Bharat Biotech has announced that its Covid-19 vaccine, COVAXIN, was found to be 77.8% effective against Covid-19 in Phase III trials. The whole virion inactivated vaccine is being co-developed with the Indian Council of Medical Research and the National Institute of Virology Pune. The trials included 130 symptomatic cases, with 24 in the vaccine group and 106 in the placebo group. The vaccine was also found to be 93.4% effective against severe symptomatic Covid-19.
Taiwanese businessman Terry Gou, along with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, have made initial agreements to each purchase five million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine. According to sources, Taiwan’s government has been attempting to purchase doses of the Pfizer vaccine for months and has blamed China for hindering a deal the two sides were scheduled to sign earlier this year. China has denied the claims.
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The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved an additional batch of Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot Covid-19 vaccine, manufactured at Emergent BioSolutions’ Baltimore factory. The bulk drug substance, which has not yet been put into vials, is capable of producing up to 15 million doses of the J&J vaccine, according to sources. The FDA has now authorised a total of four batches of the Covid-19 vaccine produced at the Emergent facility.
