Bharat Biotech's Covaxin effective against UK strain of coronavirus: Study

The vaccine against novel coronavirus made by Bharat Biotech has been found effective against the UK variant of the virus. The UK variant of the virus is considered to be 70 per cent more infectious and more leathal than the one from Wuhan. In India, 150 cases of the UK strain have been reported.

New Delhi: The vaccine against novel coronavirus made by Bharat Biotech has been found effective against the UK variant of the virus. 

Taking to Twitter, Bharat Biotech said "Covaxin effectively neutralises UK variants of SARS-CoV-2 reducing the possibility of mutant virus escape". The tweet also enclosed a link to a report of its research findings. Though, the study is yet to be peer reviewed.

Neutralization of UK-variant VUI-202012/01 with COVAXIN vaccinated human serum https://t.co/v8Me4TzGgh #BharatBiotech #COVAXIN #bioRxiv #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/7R3FlsWAX3 — BharatBiotech (@BharatBiotech) January 27, 2021

The UK variant of the virus is considered to be 70 per cent more infectious and more leathal than the one from Wuhan. In India, 150 cases of the UK strain have been reported.

Covaxin was approved for emergency use by the drug regulatory authority in January. The regulator, however, said the vaccine's use will be in the clinical trial mode, which means all its recipients will be tracked and monitored.

Over the past week, COVID deaths in the UK have gone up by 16 per cent. British government's chief scientist Patrick Vallance said the new strain could be 30 to 40 per cent more deadly for some age groups, though there is not study to back this claim.