Bharat Biotech fact-checks media reports on Covaxin

Hyderabad: Bharat Biotech, the maker of Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin, issued a fact check in response to certain media reports about the vaccine. Referring to a report dated December 29th 2021 by Moneycontrol, which stated, “No one can quite say how India’s indigenous Covid-19 vaccine company will meet the challenge of vaccinating close to 10 crore […]

Hyderabad: Bharat Biotech, the maker of Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin, issued a fact check in response to certain media reports about the vaccine.

Referring to a report dated December 29th 2021 by Moneycontrol, which stated, “No one can quite say how India’s indigenous Covid-19 vaccine company will meet the challenge of vaccinating close to 10 crore Indians between the ages of 15-18 next month.”

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Bharat Biotech clarified, “The adult vaccination campaign is ongoing for the past 11 months, till date we have vaccinated – 60% of the population with two doses. Hence the vaccinations for the 15-18 age group will also be carried out over the next few months, and not in a single month as indicated.”

COVAXIN® – Fact Check- Issued in Public Interest#Covaxin #COVID19Vaccine #COVID19 #BharatBiotech pic.twitter.com/MWclev1vae

— BharatBiotech (@BharatBiotech) January 5, 2022

Money control report said, including one botched up attempt to revive the Haskins Veterinary Institute in Gujarat -suggest that the efforts have so far been less than successful. Bharat Biotech stated that the mentioned company (Haskins Veterinary Institute) does not exist. Technology transfer projects are ongoing with three companies, one technology transfer recipient company is currently manufacturing.

Moneycontrol report also stated, “To be sure though, Bharat Biotech is one of the few companies, which has conducted human trials on these 18-year-olds and has the experience.” To this, Bharat Biotech clarified Covaxin trials were conducted in children 2-18 years of age.

 

 

Referring to a Times of India report dated 25th December 2021, which stated “The recent developments have created confusion among private hospitals in Bengaluru, which have in stock nearly 5.5 lakh doses of Covaxin, which expired in November-December.” Bharat Biotech clarified, “Based on data available with the company, less than 1 lakh expired doses were available with private hospitals in Bangalore, as of 25th December.”

With reference to another report by Deccan Herald dated 05th January 2022, which said-the confidence of parents has been first shaken by the low sample size of human clinical trials and second by a non-transparent extension of shelf life. Bharat Biotech clarified Covaxin has been evaluated in more than 26,000 subjects in controlled human clinical trials, one of the largest such evaluation for Covid-19 vaccines in India and published in internationally renowned peer reviewed journals.

The vaccine maker further added, “The shelf life has been extended in a very transparent manner based on data submitted by the company to CDSCO. The same was communicated in the public domain by the company on the 3rd November 2021 and 20th December 2021. The Ministry of Health had also communicated the shelf life extension on 03rd January 2022 for both Covaxin and Covishield.”

In response to the same report that said Bharat Biotech has taken back 90% of the six-lakh-odd label-expired doses in the city for relabeling, the Hyderabad firm said, “Based on data available with the company Bangalore did not have six-lakh label-expired doses. Less than 1 lakh expired doses were available with private hospitals in Bangalore, as of 25th December.”

Responding to a news report by The Wire dated 29th December 2021, which said, the virologist said there is currently no data available on the immune response generated by Covaxin, Bharat Biotech said the fact was that the data on the immune responses generated by Covaxin has been published in several peer reviewed journals during 2020 and 2021. Data is available on booster doses of Covaxin; it has been submitted to regulatory authorities.

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