It is noteworthy that the vaccine was still in clinical trialswhen it was approved for emergency use on January 3.
Indian double mutant strain, technically B.1.617, is nullifiedby the vaccine Covaxin. This was claimed by Dr Anthony Fauci, an Americanphysician-scientist and immunologist who serves as the director of the U.S.National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the chief medicaladvisor to the president.
An Indian news agency PTI claims the doctor saying, "Now,this is something where we're still gaining data on a daily basis. But the mostrecent data was looking at convalescent sera of COVID-19 cases in people whoreceived the vaccine used in India, the Covaxin. And it was found to neutralisethe 617 variant,"
He continues, "So despite the real difficulty thatwe're seeing in India, vaccination could be a very, very important antidoteagainst this."
He concludes his statement with emphasizing that if therewas one takeaway from his research, it was “that it's very important to getvaccinated.”
Regarding the vaccine Covaxin, trials by ICMR noted anefficacy of 78%.
It must be heeded that this is the variant which isdecimating family after family, especially in Maharashtra and Delhi. Thevariant has three new spike protein mutations and are contributing heavily tothe second wave of the pandemic.
This same variant is bringing sorrow to at least 17 countriesis the world, claims United Nations health agency.
Like any vaccine, this vaccine too uses dead or weak diseaseto make the body produce antibodies to fight the actual disease. Basically, thisis like preparing an army in the body which is specifically trained against thedisease in the vaccine.
All in all, besides being proud of our Indian institutionsfor creating an effective vaccine under such pressures, we have been advised byan American doctor of the highest station to get ourselves vaccinated.