COVID: Corbevax nod in India to help world as talks for WHO approval underway, says expert

 Amid the urgency to ramp up vaccination, Corbevax’s approval would not only be helpful for India but also for the rest of the world as discussion for WHO's nod are underway, said Baylor College's Professor Peter Hotez after the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) on Tuesday approved the jabs. Corbevax, the COVID-19 vaccine produced by Hyderabad-based vaccine giant  Biological-E in collaboration with US-based Dynavax and Baylor College of Medicine, is also India’s first indigenously developed protein sub-unit vaccine against Coronavirus infection.  

Weighing in on the emergency use approval of Corbevax, Hotez told ANI on Friday, “Given the urgency, Corbevax will be helpful not only for India but globally as most of the African continent, neighbouring countries around India remain largely unvaccinated…”

According to the American paediatrician, Corbevax approval in India for adults above the age of 18 will have a “great pediatric profile because parents have been giving same technology (as in vaccine) to their kids for decades...We hope that (its) possibility as a booster will follow.” Hotez, who is a Professor of Pediatrics and Molecular Virology & Microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine, said that the vaccine-makers are in touch with the World Health Organization (WHO) to increase the availability of Corbevax across the globe. 

“We have started discussions with WHO to make this vaccine as widely available as possible, especially to people who live in poverty. It's easy to scale, has a great record of safety, simple refrigeration...It has an ideal profile,” said Hotez.

Corbevax was approved by DCGI this week

Earlier, on Tuesday, after Corbevax was approved by DCGI, Biological E explained that its COVID-19 vaccine is a “‘recombinant protein sub-unit’ vaccine, developed from the receptor binding domain (RBD) of the spike protein on the virus’s surface combined with Dynavax’s CpG 1018 adjuvant with alum, which helps the body build the immune response against the virus.”

In terms of vaccine roll out, Biological E stated that it plans on completing the production at a rate of 75 million doses per month and is anticipating more than 100 million doses each month from February 2022. In a statement on Tuesday, Hotez had said, “Our scientists at Texas Children’s Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine are thrilled to help in the development of this vaccine, possibly the first covid vaccine specifically designed for global health.” 

(IMAGE: ANI/Unsplash)