Covaxin found to Neutralise 617 variants of the Deadly Virus: Dr Anthony Fauci

New Delhi: White House Chief Medical Adviser and America's top pandemic expert Dr Anthony Fauci said that Covaxin, India's home-grown COVID-19 vaccine, has been found to neutralise the 617 variants of the deadly virus. He was speaking to reporters during a conference call on Tuesday.

He said, "This is something where we're still gaining data on a daily basis. But the most recent data, was looking at convalescent Sera of COVID-19 cases and people who received the vaccine used in India, the Covaxin. It was found to neutralise the 617 variants."

He further said that despite the real difficulty that they are seeing in India, vaccination could be a very important antidote against this.

As per the source, Covaxin works by teaching the immune system to make antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. The antibodies attach to viral proteins, such as the so-called spike proteins that stud its surface. Given the strong portfolio of approved, highly effective and safe vaccines in the United States, the administration is looking at options to share AstraZeneca vaccines with other countries as they become available.

Fauci said that this should amount to around 60 million doses or so over the next two months.

Healthcare advisor Andy Slavitt said that the AstraZeneca vaccine is highly safe and effective, and approved in many parts of the world, and since it is not approved for use in the US, they don't need to use the AstraZeneca vaccine there during the next few months.

"We have sufficient supply of vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson to accommodate our needs in the US," he added.

On Tuesday, India has received 100 ventilators, 95 oxygen concentrators, and 600 pieces of vital medical equipment from Britain. Also, in the coming weeks, nine airline container loads of supplies, including 495 oxygen concentrators, 120 non-invasive ventilators, and 20 manual ventilators, will be sent.

India has reported 3,60,960 fresh cases on Tuesday, the highest ever single-day spike recorded globally. In the last 24 hours, 3,293 fresh cases of COVID-induced fatalities were reported taking the total death toll of the country to 2.01 lakhs. Yesterday's surge in the cases of the novel coronavirus takes the total tally of the country's caseload to 1.79 crores while the active cases amount to 29.71 lakhs. Read more

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