An Indian government-backed COVID-19 vaccine could be launched as early as February – months earlier than expected – as last-stage trials begin this month and studies have so far shown it is safe and effective, a senior government scientist has told the Reuters news agency.
Bharat Biotech, a private company that is developing COVAXIN alongside the government-run Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), had earlier hoped to launch it only in the second quarter of next year.
“The vaccine has shown good efficacy,” senior ICMR scientist Rajni Kant, who is also a member of its COVID-19 task force, said at the research body’s New Delhi headquarters on Thursday.
“It is expected that by the beginning of next year, February or March, something would be available.”
A launch in February would make COVAXIN the first India-made vaccine to be rolled out.
Several leading vaccine candidates are already in final-stage testing. An experimental vaccine developed by the United Kingdom’s AstraZeneca is among the most advanced ones, and the UK expects to roll it out in late December or early 2021.
Other vaccines undergoing tests are being developed by Moderna Inc, Pfizer Inc with partner BioNTech SE, and Johnson & Johnson. (Aljazeera)
