India's main health agency will start a study next week to examine the effectiveness of AstraZeneca's vaccine and the homegrown shot Covaxin against coronavirus, a scientist has said.
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) will review 3,000-5,000 people above 45 years of age, of which up to 80 per cent will be those who have taken the AstraZeneca vaccine made locally by the Serum Institute of India.
“The main objective is to find out whether the vaccine prevents severe disease,” Tarun Bhatnagar told Reuters in a phone interview from the National Institute of Epidemiology (NIE) in Chennai, which will lead the study.
