Hope to launch Covovax vaccine by September, says Serum Institute CEO

The vaccine has been tested against African and UK variants of coronavirus and has an overall efficacy of 89 per cent, Poonawalla says

Hope to launch Covovax vaccine by September and the trials have begun in India, said Serum Institute chief Adar Poonawalla on Saturday.

"Covovax trials finally began in India; the vaccine is made through a partnership with Novavax and Serum," Poonawalla said in a tweet.

The vaccine has been tested against African and UK variants of coronavirus and has an overall efficacy of 89 per cent, hope to launch by September 2021, he said.

In August 2020, US-based Novavax had announced a licence agreement with the Serum Institute for the development and commercialisation of its Covid-19 vaccine candidate, in low and middle-income countries and India.

If rolled out, the vaccine will be the second from the company, the first being the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine produced locally in India by Serum.

Novavax announced a final efficacy of 96.4 per cent against mild, moderate and severe disease caused by the original coronavirus strain in UK trials.

Novavax said that the vaccine offers 100 per cent protection against the severe disease and final analysis in UK trial confirms 96 per cent efficacy against original strain of Covid-19.

The vaccine also has confirmed efficacy against variants first found in UK and South Africa, even though its a bit lower.

Against the South Africa variant, the company says it has 55.4 per cent efficacy against predominant B.1.351 escape variant in HIV-negative participants.