Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin displays robust immune response in children aged between 2-18 yrs, says The Lancet 

Bharat Biotech’s indigenously made COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin, dubbed as BBV152, displayed robust immune response in the age group of 2-18 years, according to the medical journal The Lancet. The journal said that the domestically developed vaccine is “safe, well-tolerated and immunogenic in pediatric subjects.” Bharat Biotech confirmed the development in a tweet.  

The journal also mentioned that no serious adverse effects, deaths or withdrawals due to an event were reported among the 526 children enrolled in three groups for this trial. The phase 2/3 trial open-label, non-randomised, multicentre study conducted across six children in India.  

It said, “After dose 1, the most frequent solicited systemic adverse event was mild-to-moderate fever, reported in eight (5 per cent) of 176 participants in group 1, 17 (10 per cent) of 175 in group 2, and 22 (13 per cent) in group 3. No case of severe fever was reported, and rates of all fever were all 4 per cent or less after dose 2.” 

It further claimed that the vaccine induced higher neutralising antibody responses than those observed in adults in whom the efficacy has already been demonstrated. Efficacy means the prevention or decrease in severity of COVID-19 infection.  

Meanwhile, a joint study by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Bharat Biotech found that administration of Covaxin as a booster dose enhances effectiveness against COVID-19’s delta variant and protects against Omicron variants BA.1.1 and BA.2.