Covaxin 77.8% Effective Against Symptomatic COVID-19 Infection, Confirms Lancet Study

The vaccine is administered in a two-dose regimen, 28 days apart, and can be stored and transported between 2-8 degrees Celsius. The trial took place from November 16 to May 17 this year, with participants aged 18 and older randomly assigned to receive two doses of the vaccine or a placebo.

Vaccines are the only tools to ward off deadly coronavirus complications. In India, two vaccines are being used extensively, namely Covaxin and Covisheild. But are vaccines effective? according to an interim analysis of Covaxin's phase 3 trial published in The Lancet on Friday, two doses of Covaxin, India's indigenous COVID-19 vaccine, offer 77.8 per cent protection against symptomatic disease and present no serious safety concerns.

Covaxin, an inactivated whole virus vaccine developed by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech, recently received emergency use approval from the World Health Organization (WHO) for people aged 18 and above. The phase 3 trial findings indicate that Covaxin induces a robust antibody response with no severe vaccine-related adverse events or deaths reported among the trial participants, the authors of the study said.

What are the possible side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin? The majority of the adverse events are:

• Headache
• Tiredness or fatigue
• Fever
• Muscle ache, and
• Pain at the injection site

However, all these symptoms were mild and occurred within seven days of vaccination.

What Do We Know About The Vaccine So Far?

The vaccine is administered in a two-dose regimen, 28 days apart, and can be stored and transported between 2-8 degrees Celsius. The trial took place from November 16 to May 17 this year, with participants aged 18 and older randomly assigned to receive two doses of the vaccine or a placebo.

The authors said that the researchers "recorded 24 positive cases among 8,471 people in the vaccine group and 106 positive cases among 8,502 people in the placebo group, suggesting an overall vaccine efficacy of 77.8 per cent", the authors said.

The researchers also noted that the data is preliminary and more research with a larger sample size is needed to determine efficacy against severe disease and hospitalisation.

Participants considered to be at risk of acquiring COVID-19 were prioritised with 2,750 participants above 60 years of age and 5,724 participants who reported at least one pre-existing medical condition, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, or obesity, across ages.

(With inputs from IANS)