Covaxin: India's First Indigenous COVID-19 Vaccine

In early 2020, the coronavirus pandemic brought fear and distress around the world, and scientists in India began to turn to the one thing that would slow down transmission of the disease: a vaccine. 

As the death rate soared across India, the need for a vaccine became ever more urgent. Just as in many other countries, those living in remote regions, far from medical assistance, and those in poverty, were most affected by COVID-19. 


When pharmaceutical companies like Moderna, Pfizer and AstraZeneca began testing vaccines with success, the world looked on hopefully. 

However, for India, relying on a vaccine manufactured elsewhere would be difficult – the implications of inoculating 300 million people every quarter with an imported vaccine are not difficult to imagine. 

There were other difficulties specific to India, too. As there were frequent power cuts in rural areas alongside high temperatures, any vaccine would have to be stored in normal refrigerated conditions, rather than sub-zero temperatures.

This is where Indian biotechnology company Bharat Biotech came in. Founded in 1996 by Dr. Krishna M. Ella and Mrs. Suchitra Ella in Hyderabad, the company began with a mission to create innovative vaccines and bio-therapeutics.

By the time of the coronavirus pandemic, Bharat Biotech had 160 scientific patents to its name and had been one of the first companies to develop vaccines for viral diseases like Chikungunya and Zika. 

By July 2020, a COVID-19 vaccine by Bharat Biotech had received permission from the DCGI (Drugs Controller General of India) for Phase I and II of human clinical trials, after demonstrating strong immunogenicity in non-human primates and hamsters earlier in the year.

Developed and manufactured in Bharat Biotech's high containment facility, it was named COVAXIN, and was created using Whole-Virion Inactivated Vero Cell-derived platform technology. 

Simply put, COVAXIN contains the dead coronavirus, which is incapable of infecting people but is still able to instruct the immune system to mount a defensive reaction against an infection.

Through evaluating confirmed cases, COVAXIN demonstrated 77.8% vaccine efficacy against symptomatic COVID-19 and 63.6% vaccine efficacy against asymptomatic COVID-19.

To suit India’s particular needs, COVAXIN can be stored at 2-8°C – which can be achieved with normal refrigeration. Also, crucially, COVAXIN is substantially cheaper than the alternatives that India would’ve had to import – 295 rupees versus around 2,700 rupees for the Moderna