Pfizer, Moderna COVID vaccines got nod before Delta-dominant 2nd wave peak: Krishna Ella
New Delhi: US pharma giants Pfizer and Moderna would not have got approval for their COVID-19 vaccines had they conducted phase-three clinical trials during the second coronavirus wave which was driven by the Delta variant, Krishna Ella, Chairman and Managing Director of Bharat Biotech said on Wednesday.
Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech, the manufacturer of COVID-19 Covaxin, said the efficacy of its vaccine would have been 85 per cent against the original strain of the virus -- the one that was first detected in China.
"I am telling you honestly. If Pfizer and Moderna (would) have done a phase-three clinical trial during the second wave, they would not have got the license for the product," Ella said at an event organised by the Technology Development Board (TDB), a body under the Department of Science and Technology.
"When they (Pfizer and Moderna) licensed it, there was (dominance of the) Wuhan strain. So they succeeded in getting 90 per cent efficacy but now the same vaccine is showing a 35 per cent efficacy in Israel," he said.
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