US medical advisor lauds Covaxin, says it neutralise 617 variant of COVID-19

Washington DC, April 28:In the major development, White House chief medical adviser, and America's top pandemic expert Dr. Anthony Fauci praised India's home-grown COVID-19 vaccine, Covaxin saying, "it has been found to neutralise the 617 variant of the deadly virus."

 

 

 

Fauci was speaking to reporters during a conference call on Tuesday. "This is something where we're still gaining data on a daily basis. But the most recent data was looking at convalescent Sera of COVID-19 cases and people who received the vaccine used in India, the Covaxin. It was found to neutralise the 617 variants," Dr. Fauci said.

 

 

"So, despite the real difficulty that we're seeing in India, vaccination could be a very, very important antidote against this," Fauci added.

 

Besides this, speaking with news reporter he also slammed the other countries and said that countries across the world have failed to unite to assist India against the explosive surge in coronavirus cases. He added that the situation in India had highlighted global inequality. He stressed the importance of dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic with a “global response” while adding that this has not been “accomplished”.

 

 

According to the USA's prominent newspaper, Covaxin works by teaching the immune system to make antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. The antibodies attach to viral proteins, such as the so-called spike proteins that stud its surface.

 

The Vaccine is developed by the Bharat Biotech in partnership with the National Institute of Virology and the Indian Council of Medical Research. Covaxin was approved for emergency use on January 3. Trial results later showed the vaccine has an efficacy of 78 percent.

 

 

On other hand, Dr. Andy Slavitt, White House COVID-19 Response Senior Advisor, informed that a strike team from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention is headed over to India to help coordinate this response.

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