Bharat Biotech has ‘established safety’ of its Covid-19 vaccine, Covaxin, in children in the trials and is hoping to make it available in about two months, subject to regulatory approvals.
According to reliable sources, the Hyderabad-based company is currently engaged in immunogenecity studies of the vaccine in the 2-18 years age group after ‘satisfactory’ outcome in the clinical trials.
In May, the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) had permitted the company to conduct Phase 2 and 3 clinical trials of Covaxin on children.
Subsequently, the vaccine-maker commenced trials on 525 healthy children who were administered two doses with a gap of 28 days.
Nasal vaccine
Bharat Bio is also in the process of conducting trials on the nasal vaccine, said to be the first of its kind to be developed in India.
Bharat Biotech’s CMD Krishna Ella has been maintaining that a nasal vaccine is more convenient to hasten the pace of vaccination in the country.
It is learnt that there has been an improvement in the supply of Covaxin with inflows from other drug-makers, including Indian Immunologicals Ltd, licensed to manufacture the vaccine. The company aims to produce about 2.8 crore doses of Covaxin this month.