The indigenous COVID-19 vaccines are likely to be effective against the mutant virus strains from United Kingdom, South Africa and Brazil, as per the interim data from the ongoing trials, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Director General Balram Bhargava has said.
On Tuesday, ICMR had said that four cases of South African strain have been detected in India, while a case of Brazilian mutant was also detected in early February.
“The interim analysis report should be out in a week,” Bhargava said on the clinical trials against the new variants. He was addressing an international webinar ‘Kerala Health: Making the SDG A Reality’, organised by Kerala’s Department of Health and Family Welfare.
On Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin, which is one of the vaccines approved in India along with Serum Institute’s Covishield, Bhargava said phase III trials have been completed as all 25,800 participants have been given two doses of the vaccine.
Besides, he said a paper on Covaxin’s potential to neutralise the UK strain has also been accepted for publication.
