Mexico authorized the emergency use of the vaccine Covaxin, manufactured in India, marking the sixth vaccine approved for use against COVID-19 in the country.
Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard made the announcement on his Twitter account, where he explained that the country now has AstraZeneca, Cansino, Covaxin, Pfizer, Sinovac and Sputnik V.
“Very timely decision by COFEPRIS to authorize the emergency use of the COVAXIN vaccine manufactured in India. The options for vaccination against COVID-19 in Mexico are expanding!!!,” Ebrard said on Twitter.
Covaxin is 81% effective
The vaccine developed by the Indian laboratory Bharat Biotech and the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) offers efficacy against coronavirus in 81% of cases, according to interim results revealed by Bharat Biotech.
The COVID-19 Drug “Demonstrated an Interim Vaccine Efficacy of 81% in Its Phase 3 Clinical Trial. The trials involved 25,800 subjects, the largest ever conducted in India, in partnership with the Indian Council for Medical Research,” the laboratory reported in a statement.
Covaxin “demonstrated a trend of high clinical efficacy against COVID-19, but also significant immunogenicity against rapidly emerging variants,” said Dr. Krishna Ella, Chairman and Managing Director of Bharat Biotech.
The vaccine is developed using Whole-Virion Inactivated Vero Cell-derived platform technology. Inactivated vaccines do not replicate and are therefore unlikely to revert and cause pathological effects. They contain dead virus, incapable of infecting people but still able to instruct the immune system to mount a defensive reaction against an infection.
When will Covaxin be available in Mexico?
Emergency use of the Covaxin vaccine in Mexico and the availability are two different realities. Currently, health centers around India are running out of the vaccine and worried about its availability for second doses that are required in the country. There hasn’t been any announcement by the Mexican government on an expected delivery of the vaccine to the country or when it will be available.
