Pfizer Claims Vaccine To Be Highly Effective On COVID-19 Variant In India

• ByStartupStory     |    May 27, 2021

US major Pfizer has told Indian authorities that its jab has shown “high effectiveness” against the COVID-19 variant SARS-CoV-2 variant prevalent in India and on people of Indian ethnicity or nationality. It is suitable for everyone aged 12 years or above and can be stored for a month at 2-8 degrees, sources said on Wednesday.

“The current situation in India, and across the world, is not business as usual’, and we must not respond to it with processes as usual too,” a source quoted Pfizer as having communicated to the Indian government regarding the escalating situation due to the COVID-19 variant in India.

According to sources, following recent meetings between the Indian government and Pfizer’s Chairman and CEO Albert Bourla, they have agreed to jointly work on the key issues to accelerate approval for the company’s COVID-19 vaccine in order to beat the COVID-19 variant in India.

“Recent data points confirm the high effectiveness of BNT612b2 2-dose regimen against SARS-CoV-2 variants, and among individuals of Indian ethnicity,” Pfizer has said. Further, to test the effectiveness of COVID-19 variant in India, It said 24 percent of study participants were of Indian nationality (more than 6,000), and others included Nepalese (6-12 percent), Bangladeshi (4-11 percent), Sri Lankan (3-4 percent), Pakistani (4-6 percent), indicating that the observed vaccine effectiveness applies to these groups as well.

Pfizer has urged the Government of India to rely upon WHO’s testing pathways of reliance on testing certificates from country of origin instead of mandating local testing and batch release stating it will also help fast track vaccine introduction and prevent vaccine wastage which will help beat the COVID-19 variant in India.

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