Expanding India’s vaccine basket, the Central Drug Authority approved Serum Institute of India’s Covid-19 vaccine Covovax, Biological E’s jab Corbevax and anti-Covid pill Molnupiravir for restricted use in emergency situation. The announcement by Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya came a day after the Subject Expert Committee (SEC) on Covid-19 of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) recommended granting emergency use authorisation (EUA) to Covovax and Corbevax with certain conditions.
It also had recommended granting restricted emergency use approval to the drug Molnupiravir for treatment of adult patients with COVID-19 and who have high risk of progression of the disease. In a tweet, the minister said, “Congratulations India. Further strengthening the fight against COVID-19, CDSCO, @MoHFW_INDIA has given 3 approvals in a single day for: – CORBEVAX vaccine – COVOVAX vaccine – Anti-viral drug Molnupiravir For restricted use in emergency situation”.
With this approval, the number of Covid vaccines which have received emergency use authorisation in the country has increased to eight. Six COVID-19 vaccines — Serum Institute’s Covishield, Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin, Zydus Cadila’s ZyCoV-D, Russia’s Sputnik V and the US-made Moderna and Johnson and Johnson — had already received EUA from the Indian drug regulator earlier.
“Corbevax vaccine is India’s 1st indigenously developed RBD protein sub-unit vaccine against #COVID19, Made by Hyderabad-based firm Biological-E. It’s a hat-trick! It’s now 3rd vaccine developed in India,” Mandaviya said in another tweet. The Nanoparticle Vaccine, Covovax, will be manufactured by Pune-based firm Serum Institute of India, he said.
News18 helps you decode how the vaccines work and the ideal dosage gap:
How do they work?
Corbevax and Covovax are protein subunit vaccines. The jab injects the spike protein that teaches the body to develop antibodies against the novel coronavirus. While the spike protein injected is without the virus, the body uses the antibodies generated to fight the real virus when it looks to infect the person.
How many doses will you need?
Like Covishield and Covaxin, both Corbevax and Covovax are two-dose vaccines.
What should be the gap between doses?
According to WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunisation (SAGE), there should be a gap of three to four weeks between two doses of Novavax. According to the company, in the clinical trials, the vaccine doses were administered with a gap of 28 days.
However, the health ministry’s guidelines on the gap in India are awaited.
Efficacy of Covovax & Corbevax?
Novavax claimed in June that the vaccine has an effectiveness of over 90 per cent in preventing symptomatic infection from Covid-19. For Corbevax, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in June gave the nod to Biological E to conduct phase 3 clinical trials of its COVID vaccine based on ‘promising results’ in phases 1 and 2. However, neither phase 2 nor phase 3 trial results of the vaccine have been made public yet.
Any red flags?
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), people who are allergic to any of the ingredients of the vaccine or have a history of anaphylaxis; people who have a body temperature of over 38.5o Celsius; those who are COVID-19 positive, especially symptomatic cases should avoid taking Covovax.
However, the health ministry is expected to form a separate set of guidelines for India.
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