Bharat Biotech issues statement to ward off fake news on Covaxin

Hyderabad/New Delhi: As of date all batches of COVAXIN are manufactured and released only from our manufacturing facilities at Genome Valley Hyderabad, which are fully audited and approved by regulatory authorities, hence we wish to put to rest any concerns on the quality of COVAXIN, mentioned the statement issued by Bharat Biotech on August 05, 2021.

Company further clarified that every batch of COVAXIN is subjected to more than 200 quality control tests at our facilities, followed by submission samples to Central Drugs Laboratory (CDL) Government of India. Only after approval/release by CDL, batches released commercially. 

The company’s statement informed further: “Since early June, manufacturing of COVAXIN has commenced at our sites at Malur, Karnataka, and Ankleshwar, Gujarat, prior to which engineering batches were also executed to study equipment functionality. Products manufactured from these facilities will be available for supplies during September. This is based on our 120-day timeline for manufacturing, testing, release, regulatory approvals, and distribution.”

Vaccine manufacturing, testing, and release at Bharat Biotech follow validated, stringent GMP processes which were established over 20 years, with several billion doses of vaccines supplied within India and globally.

“Since vaccines are administered to healthy individuals, safety is always our vital, primary criteria and we have an uncompromising policy on safety, and quality, whatsoever. This is evident from the excellent safety contours of COVAXIN with an impressive supply of ~ 70 million doses to date. It is emblematic that Bharat Biotech has not sought Indemnity from the Government of India for any adverse events from COVAXIN.”

Highlighting another fact, the statement added: “The whole-virion Inactivated Vero Cell vaccines (COVAXIN technology platform) are highly complex to manufacture as the critical ingredient is based on live viruses which require highly sophisticated, multiple level containment and purification methods. Such extensive, high standards of purification naturally lead to significant process losses and low yields resulting in a highly purified and safe vaccine.” 

The company also made it clear that the SARS COV2 strains provided under material transfer agreements to Bharat Biotech are also readily available at the ICMR-NIV and is accessible to any organization that wishes to manufacture a similar COVID-19 vaccine.

“Vaccinology, vaccine manufacturing, testing, and release is a complex multifactorial science involving inputs from more than 30 scientific and technological disciplines. This is evident from the fact that since the start of the pandemic only 2 vaccine companies have been able to supply COVID-19 vaccines to the Government of India,” the Bharat Biotech statement added.

The company has requested the media organizations and influencers to use caution, restraint, detailed analysis in their reportage and their external communication.

“Fake news and false and misleading narratives result in unintended consequences of creating panic in our population, resulting in vaccine hesitancy, extending our country’s timelines to return to normalcy and restoration of livelihoods.”