On 8 March, the Lancet published the phase 2 trial results of India’s first homegrown vaccine, Covaxin, declaring it to be "safe, immunogenic with no serious side effects".
Lancet has also clarified that the efficacy of the vaccine cannot be determined until the results of phase 3 are reviewed.
“The results reported in this study do not permit efficacy assessments. The evaluation of safety outcomes requires extensive phase 3 clinical trials.”Lancet
On 3 March, Hyderabad-based vaccine manufacturer Bharat Biotech announced that the phase 3 clinical results of Covaxin showed an 81% efficacy in preventing COVID. The data of these results, however, has not yet been released or peer reviewed.
According to the report, the most common adverse event in the phase 2 trial was pain at the injection site, followed by headache, fatigue, and fever.
It also says, “no severe or life-threatening (ie, grade 4 and 5) solicited adverse events were reported.”
The report goes on to say that the results of phase 2 when compared to that of Phase1 were especially substantial.
Covaxin developed by Bharat Biotech became India’s first COVID vaccine to be given approval for emergency use, back in January. The vaccine has since been marred with controversy as the move was made before it cleared all three phases of clinical trial.
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