Covaxin found to neutralise the India variant, says Fauci

Washington, April 28 Bharat Biotech’s Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin neutralises multiple variants of SARS-CoV-2 and effectively works against the double mutant strain as well, said the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Wednesday.

In a tweet from its official handle, the ICMR said, “ICMR study shows Covaxin neutralises against multiple variants of SARS-CoV-2 and effectively neutralises the double mutant strain as well.” It added: “Covaxin has been found to effectively neutralise the double mutant strain as well.”

The B.1.617 or ‘double mutant” Indian variant carries two mutations, including the L452R and E484Q, which have been seen separately before in other variants but never together in one variant.

ICMR-National Institute of Virology (NIV) recently has been successful in isolating and culturing the double mutant strain B.1.617 SARS-CoV-2 identified in certain regions of India and several other countries, the ICMR stated.

Dr Ajit Baviskar, consultant and head of department, emergency, Acute Care and Trauma Global Hospital, Mumbai, said, “Several mutant variants emerged as rapidly spreading versions of the coronavirus. The variants detected in the UK, Brazil and the double mutant variant found in some parts of India emerged as bigger threats. Several countries have detected the Indian double mutant variant of SARS-CoV-2, which has been found to be more infective.”

Most of the mutations are known to decrease although not completely eliminate the binding of the antibodies created by infection or vaccination, said Dr Baviskar.

Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin has not only received approval in India, but also in several international markets. The company is pursuing emergency-use authorisations in 60 countries now.

ICMR-NIV has successfully isolated and cultured multiple variants of concern of SARS-CoV-2 virus: B.1.1.7 (the UK variant), B.1.1.28 (Brazil variant), and B.1.351 (South Africa variant).

Covaxin has neutralisation potential against the UK and Brazil variant, said the apex health research body.