COVAXIN effective against the double mutant strain of Coronavirus: ICMR

An Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) study has found indigenous coronavirus vaccine COVAXIN to be effective against the double mutant strain of the virus. It has recently been successful in isolating and culturing the double mutant strain B.1.617 SARS-CoV-2 identified in certain regions of India and several other countries.

ICMR-National Institute of Virology has successfully isolated and cultured multiple variants of concern of SARS-CoV-2 virus: B.1.1.7 (the UK variant), B.1.1.28 (Brazil variant) and B.1.351 (South Africa variant).

ICMR in a tweet today said, "ICMR study shows #COVAXIN neutralises against multiple variants of SARS-CoV-2 and effectively neutralises the double mutant strain as well. @MoHFW_INDIA @DeptHealthRes #IndiaFightsCOVID19 #LargestVaccineDrive"

ICMR - National Institute of Virology has demonstrated the neutralization potential of COVAXIN against the UK variant and Brazil variant. It said, Covaxin has been found to effectively neutralize the double mutant strain as well.

The ICMR (Indian Council for Medical Research) did not, however, provide data to back this claim.

COVAXIN, India's indigenous COVID-19 vaccine by Bharat Biotech is developed in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) - National Institute of Virology (NIV).

The indigenous, inactivated vaccine is developed and manufactured in Bharat Biotech's BSL-3 (Bio-Safety Level 3) high containment facility.

Meanwhile, the Serum Institute of India (SII) has fixed the price of the COVISHIELD vaccine at Rs 600 per dose for private hospitals and Rs 400 per jab for state governments, the company said in a release.

Besides, the union government has announced a Liberalised and Accelerated Phase 3 Strategy of COVID-19 vaccination under which every individual above the age of 18 will be eligible to get the COVID-19 vaccine. India started its vaccination drive on January 16, 2021, with priority given to all healthcare and frontline workers in the first phase. The second phase started on March 1 where doses were administered to people above the age of 60 and those between 45 and 59 years with specific comorbidities.

Now, India has three vaccines COVISHIELD, COVAXIN and Sputnik V for its inoculation programme against COVID-19.

Also, Bharat Biotech yesterday announced the plans to scale up its manufacturing capacity to produce 700 million doses of COVAXIN® annually. Manufacturing scale-up has been carried out in a stepwise manner across multiple facilities at Hyderabad, and Bangalore. Inactivated vaccines, while highly safe, are extremely complex and expensive to manufacture, resulting in lower yields when compared to live virus vaccines.