Covaxin shows 77.8% efficacy against symptomatic Covid: Lancet

New Delhi, Nov 12: Covaxin, India's indigenous COVID-19 vaccine by Bharat Biotech demonstrates 77.8% efficacy against symptomatic Covid-19. The trial results have been published in the British medical journal The Lancet after being peer-reviewed.

The efficacy data which was peer reviewed also said the vaccine demonstrated 63.6 per cent protection against asymptomatic Covid-19 and 65.2 per cent safety against the Delta variant besides showing 70.8 per cent guard against all variants of SARS-CoV-2 virus.

The efficacy analysis demonstrated that Covaxin to be 93.4 per cent effective against severe symptomatic Covid-19.

'The peer-review of Covaxin phase III clinical trial data in The Lancet, an authoritative voice in global medicine validates our commitment to data transparency and meeting the stringent peer-review standards of world leading medical journals.'

The data from our product development and clinical trials have been published in 10 peer-reviewed journals, making Covaxin one of the most highly published COVID-19 vaccines in the world.

'This accomplishment reflects the undeterred commitment by my team members at Bharat Biotech, our public partners, Indian Council of Medical Research, National Institute of Virology, and the trust imposed by our trial participants who made this happen,' Bharat Biotech Chairman Krishna Ella said in a statement.

The phase 3 trial Efficacy and Safety Study involving 25,800 volunteers across 25 sites in India is India's largest ever clinical trial conducted for a Covid-19 vaccine.

The vaccine is developed using Whole-Virion Inactivated Vero Cell derived platform technology. Inactivated vaccines do not replicate and are therefore unlikely to revert and cause pathological effects. They contain dead virus, incapable of infecting people but still able to instruct the immune system to mount a defensive reaction against an infection.

Covaxin is included along with immune-potentiators, also known as vaccine adjuvants, which are added to the vaccine to increase and boost its immunogenicity.

• It is a 2-dose vaccination regimen given 28 days apart.
• It is a vaccine with no sub-zero storage, no reconstitution requirement, and ready to use liquid presentation in multi-dose vials, stable at 2-8oC.
• It has proven to neutralize the variants - B.1.1.7 (Alpha) first isolated in UK, P.1- B.1.1.28 (Gamma) & P.2 - B.1.1.28 (Zeta) first isolated in Brazil, B.1.617 (Kappa) first isolated in India, B.1.351 & B.1.617.2 (Beta & Delta) first isolated in RSA & India.
• Efficacy data demonstrates 65.2% protection against the SARS-CoV-2, B.1.617.2 Delta variant.