Bharat Biotech's Covaxin effective against Covid-19 UK strain: ICMR

The genome of the UK-variant has 17 mutations, eight of those were in the spike protein domain

Covaxin has similar efficacy and generates immune response against both the UK coronavirus strain and the one found in India, according to a paper published by scientists from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Bharat Biotech. 

The scientists performed a “plaque reduction neutralisation test”, which measures the concentration of antibodies of a virus, on 26 recipients of Covaxin against the UK-variant and the heterologous strain. Sera — the fluid part of the blood called serum that also contains antibodies generated against any pathogen — collected from these 26 people was used to see if it worked against the UK