Serum Institute of India’s CEO Adar Poonawalla, on Saturday, said his company hopes to launch the second vaccine against Covid-19 by September this year.
The trials of the second vaccine, Covovax, made by Serum and US vaccine development company Novavax have already begun in India this week.
Covovax has been tested against the African and the UK variants of Covid-19 and has an overall efficacy of 89%, Poonawalla tweeted.
Serum Institute of India (SII), the world’s biggest Covid-19 vaccine maker, is hopeful of launching Covovax – developed in partnership with American vaccine developer Novavax – by September this year, its CEO Adar Poonawalla said on Saturday.
“Covovax trials finally begin in India; the vaccine is made through a partnership with @Novavax and @SerumInstIndia. It has been tested against African and UK variants of #COVID19 and has an overall efficacy of 89%. Hope to launch by September 2021,” Adar Poonawalla tweeted this afternoon.
Earlier this week, the Centre announced that all citizens above the age of 45, will be eligible for the jabs in the third phase of vaccination, starting from April 1. India had begun the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines on January 16, with a target of inoculating 30 crore people by July.
Till 3.30 pm on Saturday, more than 5.80 crore vaccine shots have been administered in India, while over 83 lakh people have received both doses, according to the official data.
Meanwhile on Saturday, India reported 62,258 new Covid-19 cases in 24 hours, pushing its overall count to 1,19,08,910. With 291 more deaths, the country’s toll rose to 1,61,240.
