Corbevax

The Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) has approved Hyderabad-based Biological E. Limited (BE)’s COVID-19 vaccine Corbevax as a COVID-19 booster dose.

Details –

• The vaccine can be administered to adults six months after the administration of second dose of Covaxin or Covishield for restricted use in emergency situations.
• Corbevax is India’s first approved heterologous COVID booster (when the third dose is different from earlier doses), the company said.
• Clinical trial data showed that Corbevax booster dose provided significant enhancement in immune response and good safety profile required for an effective booster.

How Corbevax works?

• Corbevax is a “recombinant protein sub-unit” vaccine, which means it is made up of a specific part of SARS-CoV-2 — the spike protein on the virus’s surface.
• The spike protein allows the virus to enter the cells in the body so that it can replicate and cause disease. However, when this protein alone is given to the body, it is not expected to be harmful as the rest of the virus is absent.
• The body is expected to develop an immune response against the injected spike protein. Therefore, when the real virus attempts to infect the body, it will already have an immune response ready that will make it unlikely for the person to fall severely ill.
• Although this technology has been used for decades to make hepatitis B vaccines, Corbevax is among the first Covid-19 vaccines to use this platform.