Ella claimed that the regulator’s report was driven by Brazil’s “nationalism", and a desire to keep an Indian vaccine out of the country. Nonetheless, the company was taking one of the most tried and tested approaches to vaccine development: the inactivated whole-virus vaccine, also known as the killed vaccine. The core idea of making Covaxin was simple: Bharat Biotech would inactivate the virus with a chemical called beta propiolactone. Neither Bharat Biotech, nor the DCGI, responded to questions about whether these requirements had been waived for Bharat Biotech, as part of the accelerated approval. Scientists always believed that, as an inactivated vaccine, Covaxin had a good chance of being efficacious.

Source: Mint May 26, 2021 10:30 UTC