People’s willingness to buy local vaccines
By Hsieh Yen-yau 謝炎堯
On Jan. 3, the Indian government granted emergency use authorization for the COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin developed by Bharat Biotech International Ltd. Indian news media praised the move, calling it the pride of the nation.
Covaxin was researched and developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with India’s National Institute of Virology and the Indian Council of Medical Research, using the same technology platform as China’s vaccines.
The institute and the council provided the virus strain in May last year, and in July commenced phase 1 and phase 2 clinical trials, which were carried out in 12 Indian hospitals selected by the council.