Clinical trials of Covaxin on Children to commence from June 1

Hyderabad, May 22 (UNI) Hyderabad-based Bharath Biotech which has received permission to carry out pediatric trials of the Covid vaccine Covaxin, will commence its clinical trials from June 1, said Dr. Raches Ella, Head-Business Development and International Advocacy of Bharath Biotech, here on Saturday.

It will be a trial on children aged 2-18 years and the Kids vaccine trials of Bharath Biotech may get the license in the third quarter of this year, Dr Raches said while on a virtual conversation with members of FICCI Ladies Organization (FLO) Hyderabad on “All About Vaccines” here.

“I am happy that our hard work is paying off well as the vaccine is working well and saving lives”, he said we have this good feeling when we go back home from work each day.

We will be soon ramping up our manufacturing capacity to 700 million doses by the end of this year, Dr. Raches said while responding to a question from a participant.

We are happy to have the full support of the government because of which we are able to stand where we are today in this journey, he said the indigenous Covaxin vaccine is co-developed by Bharat Biotech and ICMR.

The Government placed an advanced purchase order of rupees 1500 crore, Dr Raches said this will help our company to increase our risk appetite and that is why we are expanding to Bangalore and Gujarat, informed the young executive of Bharath Biotech.

We focused on developing the product last year, now our focus is on ramping up our manufacturing capacity, he informed.

Few side effects of vaccination are common and that shouldn’t deter anyone from taking it,said Dr. Raches.

While interacting with Dr. Pragnya Chigurupati, Consultant–Breast Oncology and Oncoplastic Surgeon who moderated the talk, Dr. Raches said if you inject the purest form of water into anybody it is likely to generate few reactions. It is the biological nature of the body. If it doesn’t then there is a problem with your body. Whenever any foreign body enters our body a good body should react. Same is the case with vaccines. That is why we have side effects.

Dispelling various myths about vaccine hesitancy, he said COVID Vaccines are safe and everyone should take vaccines.