Bharat Biotech: Covaxin is Effective Against India, UK COVID strains

Bharat Biotech on Sunday shared that Covaxin has found to be effective against the coronavirus strains found in India and the UK. Initially, there were doubts regarding the effectiveness of these vaccines against the mutant strain but now it has been confirmed by the developers that the vaccine will work well.

Hyderabad-based vaccine major Bharat Biotech said that people getting vaccinated with the Covaxin will have antibodies against B.1.617 and B.1.1.7. These variants found in India and UK are spreading rapidly.

Bharat Biotech co-founder and Joint Managing Director Suchitra Ella shared in a tweet, “Covaxin gets international recognition yet again, by scientific research data published demonstrating protection against the new variants. Yet another feather in its cap.”

Covaxin has produced neutralizing titres against all key emerging variants tested. “No difference in neutralization between B.1.1.7-UK strain, and vaccine strain (D614G) was observed,” Bharat Biotech shared.

Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the National Institute of Virology (NIV) are working towards determining the vaccines’ potential against mutant variants including the B.1.1.7 (UK variant), the B.1.351 (South Africa variant), the P2 (Brazil variant) and B.1.617 (Indian variant).

It was reported that the B.1.617 variant of SARS-CoV-2 found in India is said to be more virulent. Some reports say that this variant is spreading faster, more infectious and can infect entire families. Now, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has classified the B.1.617 variant of the coronavirus as a 'variant of concern' at the global level. 

It is still best to follow all the rules and guidelines properly cause the virus is ever-mutating.