A new, low-cost Houston COVID vaccine has been approved for use in India

As Corbavax has been granted emergency use authorization in India, Professor Peter Hotez said, “Given the urgency, Corbevax will be helpful not only for India but globally as most of the African continent, neighboring countries around India are large. The scale remains unconnected.”

The emergency use authorization of Corbevax for adults 18 years of age and above in India will have a great pediatric profile as parents have been giving the same technology (in the vaccine) to their children for decades… Its) as a booster will likely follow, Professor Hotez said.

“We have started discussions with WHO to make this vaccine as widely available as possible, especially for people who live in poverty. It is easy to measure, has a good record of safety, simple refrigeration … it has a perfect profile,” ]he added.

TCH said the vaccine has been through phase III clinical trials with more than 3,000 subjects and has been found to be safe and well-tolerated. The tests suggested a better immune response to the ancestral-Wuhan strain of the virus, as well as to the delta variant, compared to Covishield developed by Oxford-AstraZeneca. None of the subjects showed a serious adverse reaction to the vaccine; And the adverse effects in the study were half of CoveShield’s.

“TCH is not planning to make money on this, it is a gift to the world. The vaccine uses the traditional recombinant protein yeast fermentation technique used for the recombinant hepatitis B vaccine, which is approximately It has been around for 40 years. This was authorized on the basis of efficacy studies for another well established COVID vaccine. It can be made locally all over the world, and now we have our own in India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Botswana. Texas Children’s Vaccine to producers,” Dr. Hotez said.

According to Hotez, the vaccine relationship will also bring the two countries closer.

“We have strong ties with the Indian community here in Houston and I recently spoke at the Indo American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Houston (IACCGH) gala, where I met Ambassador Taranjit Singh Sandhu, the Indian Ambassador to the United States. I Very excited about the strong US-India relationship through this vaccine diplomacy. India is also very committed to developing vaccines for the world, even beyond us, we have been talking about India for many years. I know,” Hotez said.

Tweeting about the announcement, he mentioned that 150 million doses of BioE are ready and it is making 100 million per month.

“We transferred the technology to our vaccine and helped co-develop it, with no patents and no strings attached. As a result, this should be the least expensive COVID vaccine yet available,” Hotez said.

The vaccine uses an older recombinant protein yeast fermentation technology used for the recombinant hepatitis B vaccine that has been around for 40 years. It was authorized on the basis of a superiority study for another well established COVID vaccine.

“It can be made locally all over the world, and now we have transferred the technology to our Texas Children’s Vaccine to producers in India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Botswana. TCH does not plan to make money on it, it is A gift to the world,” Hotez said.

For nearly two years, Hotez has offered insight and explanation regarding COVID-19.

Both doctors were well suited to the development of this particular vaccine, having studied coronavirus vaccine prototypes for a decade.

Bottazzi said Corbevax will fill the access gap created by more expensive, newer vaccine technologies and that still cannot be scaled up quickly enough for global production today.

Hotez recently described how the Southern Hemisphere is complicating efforts to tackle the pandemic, referring to a disconnect regarding the scale of vaccinations required.

“The Biden administration has just announced that we have donated 300 million doses,” he said.

“To me it’s kind of deaf. We need nine billion doses on the African continent. We need a better understanding there,” he said.

“Global vaccination can prevent the emergence and spread of new forms of the latter. We now have a chance to stop a new global wave,” said Hotez.

(with inputs from agencies)