Hyderabad based pharmaceutical company Biological E's COVID-19 vaccine, Corbevax, was granted Emergency Use Authorisation by the CDSCO (Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation) on28 December.
The announcement comes along with the news of another COVID-19 vaccine, Serum Institute of India's (SII) Covovax and Merck's antiviral COVID pill, Molnupiravir, also being approved by the drugs regulatory body at the same time.
Health Minister, Dr Mansukh Mandaviya, took to Twitter to make the announcement, explaining, "It's a hat-trick! It's now the 3rd vaccine developed in India!"
These COVID vaccines and the Pill await a final nod from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI).
What do we know about the Corbevax COVID-19 vaccine? How does it work? FIT answers your FAQs.
What type of vaccine is Corbevax?
Corbevax, like Covovax is a protein subunit vaccine.
Protein subunit vaccine technology is a relatively tried and tested technology wherein only the part of the virus that are needed to trigger an immune response are introduced.
In his twitter thread, Health Minister, Dr Mansukh Mandaviya, said, "CORBEVAX vaccine is India's 1st indigenously developed RBD protein subunit vaccine against COVID-19."
Covovax, although produced in India by SII, has been developed by US based biotechnology company, Novavax Inc.
How many doses of the vaccine will I need?
Corbevax is a two-dose vaccine. According to the company, in the clinical trials, the vaccine doses were administered with a gap of 28 days.
What do we know about its efficacy?
Back in June it was announced that the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had given the green light to Biological E to conduct phase 3 clinical trials of its COVID vaccine based on 'promising results' in in phases 1 and 2.
Although, it must be noted that neither the phase 2, nor phase 3 trial results of the vaccine have been made public yet.
This means we will have to wait to find out what the efficacy of the vaccine is, and how well it holds up against variants like Omicron and Delta.
Will the vaccine also be available to children?
No, according to a statement issued by the Monistry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), the vaccine has been approved for individuals over the age of 18.
In September, Biological E was given the go ahead to conduct phase II/III clinical trials on children aged 5 to 18 year, however, the status of the trial is yet unknown.
At what temperature should the vaccine be stored in?
The vaccine can be stored in temperatures between 2o to 18o Celsius, much Covishield and Covaxin.
When will it be available?
The company or the MoHFW have not issued any statement regarding when the vaccines are expected to be rolled out.
More clarity is expected once the DCGI issues official guidelines for the vaccine soon.
Who is funding the production of this vaccine?
According to a statement released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the Government had made an advance payment of Rs 1,500 Crores to the company for the production of these vaccines.
"“The arrangement with M/s Biological-E is part of the wider endeavour of the Government of India to encourage indigenous vaccine manufacturers by providing support in Research & Development (R&D) and also financial help," the statement had read.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)