Indian vaccine found effective against new COVID-19 variant: Dr. Fauci
What's the story
COVAXIN, the indigenous coronavirus vaccine, has been found effective against the B.1.617 variant or the Indian "double mutant" strain, White House Chief Medical Adviser and the US' top pandemic expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci has said.
The B.1.617 variant is the reason behind the massive surge in COVID-19 infections across India over the past few weeks.
Here are more details on this.
Quote
'Vaccination very important antidote for India'
"This is something where we are still gaining data on a daily basis. But the most recent data, was looking at convalescent Sera of COVID-19 cases and people who received the vaccine used in India, the COVAXIN. It was found to neutralize the 617 variant," Dr. Fauci said, according to PTI.
He added that vaccination could be a "very, very important antidote" for India.
Vaccine
COVAXIN, approved in January, has an efficacy of 78%
COVAXIN has been developed by the Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the National Institute of Virology and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
It was approved for emergency use on January 3, however, the permission was mired in a controversy as the vaccine was still undergoing clinical trials back then.
Trials later showed that the vaccine has an efficacy of 78 percent.
Variant
New variant said to be behind deadly surge in infections
The B.1.617 variant is said to be behind the deadly surge in COVID-19 infections across the country that has pushed its healthcare system to the brink.
It is most commonly found in coronavirus cases in Maharashtra and national capital Delhi.
The World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday said that the variant has been found in at least 17 countries.
Studies
Both COVAXIN and Covishield effective against the variant
Studies have shown that both the vaccines currently in use in India, COVAXIN and Covishield, have sufficient efficacy against the new variant.
"Initial positive neutralization studies of B.1.617, with both post-COVAXIN or Covishield sera, are correlatable with milder disease during post-vaccination breakthrough infections," said Dr. Anurag Agrawal, the Director of the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB).
Situation
How bad is the COVID-19 situation in India?
India has been gripped by a dreadful second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, reporting lakhs of new cases daily amid an overburdened healthcare infrastructure.
In the last 24 hours, the country logged 3,60,960 fresh infections - the highest single-day surge for any country.
3,293 more fatalities took the death toll past the two lakh-mark.
India now has nearly 30 lakh active cases.