COVID Vaccines: Covovax Trials Begin In India, Sputnik V Expected To Be Approved

Pune: The Serum Institute of India (SII) is gearing up to launch another COVID-19 vaccine – Covovax, which is developed in partnership with America’s Novavax.

CEO Adar Poonawalla is hopeful of launching the vaccine by September this year. He notified that the vaccine has been tested against UK and African variants of the virus and has an efficacy of 89 per cent.

SII is conducting phase 2 and 3 bridging study of 1,600 participants for this vaccine.

This COVID-19 vaccine will be SII’s second in India. It is already supplying Covishield – made by Oxford University in collaboration with AstraZeneca.

There is speculation that the Russian vaccine Sputnik V which is currently being made by five firms in India, will be the next vaccine to be approved here. It has an efficacy of 91.6 per cent.

Also Read: COVID-19: Sputnik V To Be Made By 5 Firms In India