Bharat Biotech’s COVID19 vaccine Covaxin effective against Delta Plus variant: ICMR
The Indian Council of Medical Research has said that COVID19 vaccine developed by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech is effective against the Delta Plus variant of COVID19.
A study conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) reportedly shows that Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin is effective against the Delta Plus variant of COVID19.
Meanwhile, ICMR and Bharat Biotech are in agreement with regard to sharing the profits generated on the sale of Covaxin as the latter has decided to pay a royalty of five per cent on net sales of the vaccine to the ICMR.
Last week on July 27, the health ministry announced this stating that this would be remitted on a half-yearly basis.
In response to a question in the Parliament, the Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Bharti Pawar said that “a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) had been signed between ICMR and Bharat Biotech for the development of Covaxin.”
Covaxin was developed by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech in collaboration with ICMR and National Institute of Virology (NIV).
On June 23, the Union Health Ministry stated that the ‘Delta Plus’ variant or AY.1 strain of SARS-CoV-2 virus has been found in samples collected from Kerala, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh.
Also Read: Explained: Delta Plus variant — how risky is it? Are COVID19 vaccines effective?
Delta plus variant in India
The Delta Plus variant, which has been found to have the characteristics that makes it the most infectious amongst all other variants of COVID19, has been declared to be a ‘variant of concern’ by the ministry.
On June 22, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare informed in a statement that the Delta Plus or the AY.1 variant has been found to have three worrying characteristics: greater transmissibility; stronger binding with the receptors of lung cells; and potential reduction in monoclonal antibody response.
Last month, a study by ICMR also showed that most of the people post-vaccination were infected by the Delta variant in the country. It found that most COVID19 positive patients, who had received at least one vaccine dose before contracting the virus, were infected by the Delta variant.
According to Bharat Biotech, its COVID19 vaccine has demonstrated 65.2 per cent protection against the new Delta variant and 77.8 per cent effectiveness against symptomatic COVID19.
So far, 468 million doses have been administered in the country. Of these, 56,198,710 doses were of Covaxin. This means only 12 per cent of the total doses administered in the country were of Covaxin.