Coronavirus vaccine update: Bharat Biotech's COVAXIN could be launched by February

New Delhi, Nov 05: An India-made COVID-19 vaccine could be launched as early as February - months earlier than expected - as last-stage trials begin this month.

"The vaccine has shown good efficacy," senior ICMR scientist Rajni Kant, who is also a member of its COVID-19 task-force, was quoted saying by Rueters.

"It is expected that by the beginning of next year, February or March, something would be available," he added.

If launched on time, COVAXIN would be the first India-made vaccine to be rolled out.

Covaxin is being developed byBharatBiotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) - National Institute of Virology (NIV).

The city-based vaccine maker had on October 2 sought the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI)''s permission to conduct Phase 3 randomised double-blind placebo-controlled multi centre trial of its COVID-19 vaccine.

In July, the DCGI had given permission to Bharat Biotech to conduct Phase 1 and 2 clinical trials of its COVID-19 vaccine.