UPDATE - Serum Institute Of India Hopes To Roll Out Novavax Vaccine Version By September

NEW DELHI (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th March, 2021) The Serum Institute of India has started trials for a version of the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine with a view to rolling out the shots by September, CEO Adar Poonawalla said on Saturday.

The Serum Institute of India is one of the nation's largest pharma companies, which is currently manufacturing own version of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine, dubbed Covishield. It also has vaccine partnership with US company Novavax. In January, the Serum Institute said that it expected to launch the Novavax vaccine version by June.

"Covovax trials finally begin in India; the vaccine is made through a partnership with @Novavax and @SerumInstIndia. It has been tested against African and UK variants of #COVID19 and has an overall efficacy of 89%. Hope to launch by September 2021!" Poonawalla tweeted.

The Serum Institute of India is expected to test the vaccine's safety in a trial involving 1,600 people. Volunteers, aged between 18 and 99, must be healthy people who have no acute diseases and have never had COVID-19.

According to Indian media, trial participants will be randomly divided to receive two doses of either Novavax's original NVX-CoV2373 vaccine, or Indian-produced Covovax, or a placebo 22 days apart. This study will show whether Covovax has the same ability to prompt an immune response as the original Novavax vaccine.