Covaxin now a universal COVID vaccine for adults and children: Bharat Biotech

Hyderabad-based pharma giant Bharat Biotech on Thursday announced that indigenously-developed Covaxin was now a 'universal vaccine' for both adults and children. In an official statement, the company confirmed that its goals for developing a global vaccine against COVID-19 had been achieved and all product development for Covaxin's licensure had been completed. 

"COVAXIN is now a universal vaccine for adults and children. Our goals of developing a global vaccine against COVID-19 have been achieved and all product development for licensure has been completed," Bharat Biotech said in a statement. 

The announcement comes just a day after Bharat Biotech declared that Covaxin's booster dose was found to be effective against both the Omicron and Delta variants of COVID-19. It was further discovered that the immunity to wane out the COVID virus (both Omicron and Delta mutation) was much more as compared to what has been seen in other mRNA based vaccines like Moderna. Earlier studies had demonstrated the neutralising potential of Covaxin against other COVID variants too-- Alpha, Beta, Delta, Zeta and Kappa.

In technical terms, “The neutralisation activity of COVAXIN boosted sera (blood) was comparable to what has been observed in mRNA vaccine-boosted sera against the Omicron variant & Delta variant," the company said in a statement.

Covaxin approved for use among children

In a big decision, India on January 3 opened its vaccination drive to children aged 15-18 years. As per guidelines issued by the Union Health Ministry, Bharat Biotech's Covaxin was approved as the only vaccine option for children in the said age group. In a statement, the Health Ministry informed, "Only Covaxin will be available for children in the age-group 15-18 years. The vaccination for them will begin on 3 January 2022."

India has also permitted the inoculation of the ‘preventive doses’ to the priority groups, including healthcare workers and old people with co-morbidities. Covaxin is being administered as a booster vaccine, along with Covishield. 

More than three crore teenagers between the age of 15 and 18 have already received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, as of 13 January 2022. Around 155 crore COVID-19 vaccination doses have been administered across the country through the Centre's nationwide vaccination drive, data from the Union Health Ministry shows.