Developed by the Hyderabad-based Biological E Ltd in India, this two-dose vaccine shows a 90 per cent effectiveness against the original Wuhan strain and more than 80 per cent against the Delta variant
A health worker displays a dose of a COVID-19 Corbevax vaccine before a vaccination drive for people in the 12-14 age group at a hospital in New Delhi. AFP
India begun a new phase in its fight against COVID-19 on Wednesday after it began administering vaccines to children in the 12-14 age group.
Hailing this new step in the pandemic battle, which began two years ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Twitter, “Today is an important day in India’s efforts to vaccinate our citizens. Now onwards, youngsters in the 12-14 age group are eligible for vaccines and all those above 60 are eligible for precaution doses. I urge people in these age groups to get vaccinated.”
The Centre on Tuesday released a list of guidelines for vaccine drive and said that the beneficiaries in this phase would receive Biological E’s intramuscular vaccine Corbevax.
Biological E’s vaccine Corbevax is the latest in the list of vaccines India is using to inoculate its citizens against the fast-spreading virus; Serum Institute’s Covishield and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin, Russia’s Sputnik.
Here’s what we know about the vaccine and why it could be a game-changer.
Corbevax explained
Corbevax is developed by the Hyderabad-based Biological E Ltd in collaboration with the Texas Children’s Hospital Centre for Vaccine Development and Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas.
Corbevax is being called “India’s first indigenously developed protein subunit vaccine against COVID-19”.
The USP of this vaccine is that it is a protein subunit vaccine. This means that the vaccine uses a harmless piece of the spike protein from the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 to stimulate and prepares the immune system for future encounters with the virus.
Interestingly, this same process has been used for years to make Hepatitis B vaccines.
Novavax, which is also a protein-based vaccine, is still waiting for emergency use authorisation from various regulators.
One must note that other vaccines being used across the world are different from Corbevax. Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which are extensively used abroad, are mRNA vaccines, whereas Serum Institute’s Covishield, Johnson & Johnson and Sputnik V are viral vector vaccines. There is also the inactivated vaccines in the form of Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin, Sinovac and Sinopharm.
How was Corbevax developed?
While Biological E will produce the vaccine in India, its origins lie across the ocean at the Baylor College of Medicine’s National School of Tropical Medicine.
The Conversation reports that during the 2003 SARS outbreak, researchers created a similar type of vaccine by inserting the genetic information for a portion of the SARS virus spike protein into yeast to produce large amounts of the protein. After isolating the virus spike protein from the yeast and adding an adjuvant, which helps trigger an immune response, the vaccine was ready for use.
In 2019 when coronavirus emerged, the scientists used the same premise and the rest was history as Corbevax vaccine was created.
Efficacy of the vaccine
As per the phase three trials, the vaccine showed, according to the company, ‘a superior immune response in comparison with Covishield against the ancestral-Wuhan strain and the globally dominant Delta variant’.
According to reported information, Corbevax has an effectiveness of over 90 per cent against the original Wuhan strain of the novel coronavirus and is more than 80 per cent effective in preventing symptomatic infections with the Delta variant.
Use in India
Corbevax is slated to be the cheapest vaccine in India as it is made using a low-cost platform. According to the reports, it will cost around Rs 250 for a dose.
According to officials, the government has already placed an order for 30 crores of Corbevax vaccine with an advance payment of Rs 1,500 crore.
In February this year, the Drugs Controller General of India has granted restricted emergency use authorisation (EUA) to Biological E’s COVID-19 vaccine Corbevax for the 12 to 18 years age group.
Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya tweeted, “The @CDSCO_INDIA_INF has granted emergency use authorisation to COVID-19 vaccine #CORBEVAX for 12-18 year age group.
Game-changer
Corbevax has several benefits, as it is a protein subunit vaccine. The Conversation reports that protein subunit vaccines can be readily produced and it is relatively inexpensive and fairly easy to scale up.
Moreover, manufacturing facilities to create this kind of vaccine are already available, which could help in scaling production.
Corbevax can also be stored in a regular refrigerator. Therefore, it is possible to produce millions of doses rapidly and distribute them relatively easily.
With inputs from agencies
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