New Delhi: Serum Institute of India (SII) CEO Adar Poonawalla on Saturday said the company has applied to start the trials of another Covid-19 vaccine in partnership with Novavax in India and that it hopes to launch Covavax by June 2021.
The announcement comes a day after Novavax Inc said that its vaccine was 89.3 per cent effective in preventing COVID-19 in a trial conducted in the United Kingdom, and was nearly as effective in protecting against the more highly contagious variant first discovered in the UK, according to a preliminary analysis.
Poonawalla took to Twitter to say that the SII's partnership with Novavax for a Coronavirus vaccine has given excellent efficacy results. "Our partnership for a COVID-19 vaccine with @Novavax has also published excellent efficacy results. We have also applied to start trials in India. Hope to launch COVOVAX by June 2021!" he tweeted.
Meanwhile, with 13,083 fresh cases, India's COVID-19 tally has gone up to 1,07,33,131, while 1,04,09,160 patients have recuperated so far, pushing the national recovery rate to 96.98 per cent, the Health ministry said on Saturday.
The viral disease has claimed 137 more lives in the country in a span of 24 hours and the death toll now stands at 1,54,147, it added.
Over 35 lakh beneficiaries have been vaccinated against COVID-19 in the country till now with 5,70,000 vaccinations conducted in the last 24 hours, the ministry said on Saturday.
Of the 35,00,027 beneficiaries, the highest number of 4,63,793 people were vaccinated in Uttar Pradesh, followed by 3,24,973 in Rajasthan, 3,07,891 in Karnataka and 2,61,320 in Maharashtra.
In a statement, the ministry said in the last 24 hours, 5,71,974 people were vaccinated across 10,809 sessions, while a total of 63,687 sessions have been conducted so far.