Explained: What Does Covaxin’s 81 Per Cent Efficacy Data Mean?

Producer, Reporter: Devina Buckshee

Video Editor: Ashutosh Bhardwaj

“There is enough data now for both vaccines to tell us that neither vaccine will hurt us and both vaccines are going to help us. Both vaccines have been proven to be safe and at least now I know both seem to work reasonably well.”

Dr Shahid Jameel, virologist

Bharat Biotech announced that as per the phase 3 clinical results, their indigenously-made COVID-19 vaccine candidate Covaxin has an interim clinical efficacy of 81 per cent against COVID-19 in those without prior infection after the second dose.

What does this preliminary data mean? How will it change when the trial continues to 130 confirmed cases? Since the efficacy data is finally out, how does this compare to Covishield - for that matter, are these comparisons even fruitful?

FIT talks to virologist Dr Shahid Jameel to understand what this means for vaccines in India