The Indian Council of Medical Research presented interim results of the ongoing clinical trials. These trials indicated that the indigenous COVID-19 vaccines would be effective against the mutated virus strains reported from the UK.
Dr Balram Bhargava, Director General of ICMR said a paper on Covaxin’s neutralisation potential against the UK strain has been accepted for publication.
The third clinical-trial of Covaxin-BB152 had been completed, administering both doses to all the 25,800 volunteers involved in the exercise. “The interim analysis report should be out in a week”, Dr Bhargava said.
He also said that India was the fifth country in the world to isolate the COVID-19 virus as part of the efforts to develop a vaccine for the pandemic.