Two good news await for India – first is that the production of Covaxin has started from its Chiron Behring Vaccines facility in Gujarat’s Ankleshwar, and second, ICMR data has shown tht a single dose of Covaxin on people recovered from Covid-19 is as effective as two doses administered to uninfected individuals. However, these are preliminary findings and that it needs to be corroborated with larger units of data.
Covaxin which is the nation’s first indigenously developed COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin by the Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech will now begin to roll out and the first commercial batch was launched by Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Mansukh Mandaviya, reports Times of India.
The new facility was built in Gujarat in 2020, and supplies will now begin from the Chiron Behring Vaccines facility in September. However, the production had already begun there in early June, before the team from Bharat Biotech had executed engineering batches to study the equipment functionality at the facility.
As per a report published by the Economic Times, “This study offers evidence in support of public health-oriented and immunologically sustained vaccine strategies,” the study published by ICMR reads.
It added, “If our preliminary findings are confirmed in large population studies, a single dose of BBV152 vaccine may be recommended to previously confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infected individuals so that the naïve individuals could attain the larger benefit of a limited vaccine supply.”
Covaxin was jointly developed by Dr Krishna Ella-led Bharat Biotech and the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) and the Pune-based National Institute of Virology.
Click here to subscribe to The Commune on Telegram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.