‘New variant of Covid likely by November, may evade vaccine’, says Krishna Ella
Dr. Krishna Ella, Chairman and Managing Director of Bharat Biotech (BB) International Ltd, predicted a new variant of COVID-19 in India by November that could “avoid vaccines” and “increased hospitalizations”, Dr. Krishna Ella advocated the nasal vaccine as the next step. The upper respiratory system can protect “only the lower part” as an injectable vaccine.
Speaking at the 43rd Vikram Sarabhai Memorial Lecture on “innovation and entrepreneurship” at the Ahmedabad Management Association (AMA) on Saturday, Ella said, “People who took the injectable vaccines are protected in the lower (respiratory system) part so they still get the infection because the upper part of the lung is not protected. The nasal vaccine gives upper lung protection… We are optimistic that both injectable and nasal strategies will work,” said Dr. Ella.
Phase 3 trials for the BB nasal vaccine were announced to be complete in June this year and the company is yet to submit trial data with DCGI.
Noting that conducting clinical trials during the pandemic was a challenge, Ella emphasized that during the development of Covaxin, “safety” was put as a first principle so that “healthy people would not be in trouble “. “Even if the efficacy is a little low, it doesn’t matter, but its safety profile is very important,” he said.
