The Business Bytes
TBB BUREAU
HYDERABAD, JANUARY 8, 2022
Bharat Biotech, a global leader in vaccine innovation and developer of vaccines for infectious diseases, today announced the results from the highly anticipated trial studying the immunogenicity and safety of the COVAXIN (BBV152) a whole-virion inactivated COVID-19 vaccine as a booster dose.
This analysis re-emphasizes Bharat Biotech’s continued efforts to stay ahead of COVID-19, and this update provides a comprehensive vaccine booster strategy. COVAXIN® is the first vaccine (in India) to report safety and immunogenicity results from a booster clinical trial. The analysis showed, six months after a two-dose BBV152 vaccination series cell-mediated immunity and neutralising antibodies to both homologous (D614G) and heterologous strains (Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Delta plus) persisted above baseline, although the magnitude of the responses had declined.
Furthermore, Neutralising antibodies against homologous and heterologous SARS-CoV-2 variants increased 19 to 265 fold after a third vaccination. Booster BBV152 vaccination is safe and may be necessary to ensure persistent immunity to prevent breakthrough infections.
Bharat Biotech Chairman and Managing Director Dr. Krishna Ella said, “These trial results provide a strong foundation towards our goal to provide COVAXIN as a booster dose. Our goals of developing a global vaccine against COVID-19 have been achieved. COVAXIN is now indicated for adults, children, 2 dose primary and booster doses. This enables the use of COVAXIN as a universal vaccine.”
“We found the vaccine induces both memory B and T cells with a distinct CD4 and CD8 phenotype,” added Dr. Krishna
Further, reactogenicity after vaccine and placebo was minimal and comparable, and no serious adverse events were reported.
While protection against the severe disease remains high across the full 6 months, a decline in efficacy against symptomatic disease over time and the continued emergence of variants are expected. Based on emerging data, Bharat Biotech believes that a third dose may be beneficial to maintain the highest levels of protection.
