Pune: Serum Institute of India (SII) will introduce Covavax in the country by September, the media reported. Covavax is a version of US firm Novavax’s Covid-19 vaccine candidate. The SII also said that it will start clinical trials of Novavax for children in July.
Novavax vaccine has shown strong efficacy against the emerging variants of Covid-19 in a large trial, the biotech firm said on June 14. This is also the fourth vaccine the United States has added to its arsenal. Novavax Inc said that the jabs are 90% effective at preventing symptomatic Covid-19 and showed 100% effectiveness at preventing moderate and severe symptoms.
The vaccine showed 93% effectiveness against variants of concern based on test results from a secondary analysis which mostly consisted of cases of the alpha variant which is predominant in the United States. The vaccine is based on recombinant protein technology. With over 90% overall efficacy, the vaccine efficacy rate is similar to the reported rates of Pfizer Inc. with BioNTech SE and by Moderna Inc., as well as the Sputnik V vaccine from Russia. All of these are messenger RNA shots and use viral vector technology.
India has closely observed the developments related to the vaccine
