A recent study by the Indian Council of Medical Research reveals that Bharat Biotech's Covaxin is effective against the rampant Delta Plus variant of COVID-19. Covaxin was developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) National Institute of Virology (NIV).
Earlier, Bharat Biotech had said that Covaxin has demonstrated 77.8 per cent effectiveness against symptomatic COVID-19 and 65.2 per cent protection against the new Delta variant.
The efficacy analysis demonstrated Covaxin to be 93.4 per cent effective against severe symptomatic COVID-19 cases while safety analysis showed adverse events reported were similar to placebo, with 12 per cent of subjects experiencing commonly known side effects and less than 0. 5 per cent feeling serious adverse events.
The efficacy data demonstrated 63.6 per cent protection against asymptomatic COVID-19.
On Tuesday, all documents required for Emergency Use Listing (EUL) were submitted to WHO by Bharat Biotech for Covaxin as of July 9 and the review process by the agency had commenced, Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar informed Rajya Sabha.
Responding to a question on whether it has come to the notice of the government that COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin used in India is not recognised by many countries, Pawar had said the government is aware that Covaxin at present is not part of WHO Emergency Use Listing (EUL).
The review process by WHO has commenced. WHO usually takes up to six weeks to decide on Emergency Use Listing (EUL) submissions, she said in a written reply.