Hyderabad, Jul 20 (PTI) Pharmaceutical major Bharat Biotech on Wednesday said its COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin has proven to be safe, well-tolerated, and immunogenic in subjects in controlled clinical trials.

The study has been accepted and published in Nature Scientific Reports, a high impact factor journal.

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A press release from the vaccine maker said the study was conducted in 184 subjects, who were randomised 1:1 and received either a booster dose of Covaxin or a placebo, six months after the primary series of two doses.

Subjects were evaluated for safety, neutralising antibody responses against variants of concern, binding antibodies against spike protein, RBD, N proteins, and for memory T and B cell responses to demonstrate cell-mediated immunity, it said.

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Krishna Ella, chairman and managing director, Bharat Biotech, said the team has now demonstrated that Covaxin is a multi-epitope vaccine with antibodies against spike, RBD and N proteins.

"Post booster dose, it has proven neutralising antibody responses against variants of concern and long term protection through memory T and B cell responses. We have now achieved our goal of developing a safe and efficacious vaccine with long-term protection against a spectrum of variants," Ella said.

Covaxin, is formulated uniquely such that the same dosage can be administered to adults and children alike, for primary and booster doses, making it truly a universal vaccine, the company release said.

The jab is a ready-to-use liquid vaccine, stored at 2-8 degrees Celsius, with 12-months shelf life and multi-dose vial policy.

Bharat Biotech has a stockpile of more than 50 million doses of Covaxin ready to be distributed as and when required.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)