Coronavirus digest: India's Covaxin 'effective against all variants'

India's Bharat Biotech says late-stage trials showed Covaxin was 93.4% effective against severe symptomatic COVID. Meanwhile, Australia's New South Wales state reported its biggest daily rise in infections this year.

    

In a stage three trial, Covaxin showed effectiveness against both the Delta variant and in severe 

symptomatic cases of COVID.

Bharat Biotech, the manufacturer of India's indigenous vaccine, Covaxin, said on Saturday that its vaccine showed 93.4% effectiveness against severe symptomatic COVID-19.

The company said that Phase III trials of the vaccine also showed 65.2% effectiveness against the Delta variant of the COVID virus, that severely-affected India in March, April and May. Bharat Biotech said that Covaxin also showed 77.8% effectiveness against symptomatic COVID-19.

Covaxin's success against the Delta variant follows similar results from AstraZeneca, whose vaccine has shown over 90% protection against hospitalization from the Delta variant. Meanwhile, the vaccine manufactured by Johnson & Johnson is also believed to be effective against the Delta variant.

Bharat Biotech said that it now estimates to step up production to 23 million doses a month. The company, which is manufacturing Covaxin with Ocugen Inc, is planning to file a request for approval for its vaccine in the US.

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