Bharat Biotech's Covaxin Found To Neutralise 617 Variant Of COVID-19 Virus, Says Top US Infectious Disease Expert Dr Fauci

In a boost to credibility of Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin, America's top pandemic expert Dr Anthony Fauci said that this vaccine developed in India was found to neutralise B.1.617 variant or the Indian double mutant strain of the Covid-19 virus.

The endorsement was made by Fauci on Tuesday (27 April) while speaking to reporters during a conference call, reports Hindustan Times.

"This is something where we're still gaining data on a daily basis. But the most recent data, was looking at convalescent Sera of COVID-19 cases and people who received the vaccine used in India, the Covaxin. It was found to neutralise the 617 variants," he said.

"So, despite the real difficulty that we're seeing in India, vaccination could be a very, very important antidote against this," Fauci added.

Covaxin along with Serum Institute of India’s (SII) Covishield are two vaccines that are being used to inoculate the entire population of India.

The vaccine has also shown resistance against several variants of coronavirus, including the double mutant.

Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has recently announced that according to a study, Covaxin neutralises multiple variants of SARS-CoV-2 and effectively neutralises the double mutant strain as well.

Dr Krishna Ella led Bharat Biotech on 24 April announced that Covaxin will be priced at Rs 600 per dose for the State Governments and Rs 1,200 per dose for private hospitals.

The Hyderabad-based vaccine maker also announced that the pricing of Covaxin in the export markets has been pegged in the range of $15-20 per dose.

Covaxin has been indigenously developed by Bharat Biotech in close collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Pune-based National Institute of Virology.

As per the statement issued by Bharat Biotech, all costs towards product development, manufacturing facilities, and clinical trials were deployed by it primarily by using its own resources and internal funding.