No data on vaccine efficacy against UK strain: Govt

Minister of State for Health Ashwini Choubey gave this information in a written reply to a question in Parliament

The Government on Tuesday told Parliament that no data has been generated on the efficacy of Covishield and Covaxin vaccines against the European strain of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid-19.

“At present, there is no data generated with the above vaccines specifically on new European Covid-19 virus strain,” Minister of State for Health Ashwini Choubey said in a written reply.

He was responding to a question on whether Covishield and Covaxin were able to provide protection from the new coronavirus variant that was traced in Britain.

Two strains of SARs-CoV-2 that originated in Britain and South Africa have already spread in several countries around the globe.

Covishield vaccine has been developed by Oxford-AstraZeneca and manufactured in India by Serum Institute, while Covaxin has been developed indigenously by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the National Institute of Virology.

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The minister said that during the consultation, the Subject Expert Committee of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) had noted that the Inactivated Whole Virion Coronavirus vaccine developed by Bharat Biotech has the potential to target mutated coronavirus strains.

In reply to a separate question, the CDSCO said it had received information about any specific severe adverse event causally linked to the administration of Covid-19 vaccines.

Common adverse events which have been reported from Covid-19 vaccines approved for restricted use in emergency situation include headache, rash, chills, myalgia, fatigue, fever, dizziness, inflammation and pain, swelling or redness at the site of injection, erythema, pruritus and others, Choubey said.

"The National Coordination Centre-Pharmacovigilance Programme of India (NCC– PvPI)/Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation has not received information about any specific severe adverse events causally linked to administration of Covid-19 vaccines," he said.

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He further said a communication strategy has been prepared to raise awareness about Covid-19 vaccines and address misinformation against vaccination.

The strategy aims to disseminate factual information about the vaccines and the vaccination process. This is being done through multimedia platforms and to reach out to the last mile the community leaders and influencers are being engaged, Choubey said.

The National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for Covid-19 (NEGVAC) has been established, which provides guidance on all aspects of Covid-19 vaccination including prioritization of population groups, procurement and inventory management, vaccine selection, vaccine delivery and tracking mechanism.

(With inputs from PTI)