Adar Poonawalla said trials of Covovax have finally begun in India

Covovax has been tested against the African and the UK variants of COVID-19 and has an overall efficacy of 89%, Poonawalla tweeted.

Serum Institute of India's CEO Adar Poonawalla, on Saturday, said his company hopes to launch the second vaccine against COVID-19 by September this year. The trials of this second vaccine, Covovax, made by Serum and US vaccine development company Novavax have already begun in India this week.

Covovax has been tested against the African and the UK variants of Covid-19 and has an overall efficacy of 89%, Poonawalla tweeted.

Serum Institute of India, the world's largest vaccine maker by the number of doses it produces, is supplying its first vaccine Covishield, developed in collaboration with Oxford University and Astrazeneca, to India and several other countries. With the vaccination drive going on at full throttle amid no threat of scarcity of vaccines in India, the company is moving to its second vaccine project. The trials have commenced at a Pune hospital on Thursday.

Delhi's Hamdard Institute of Medical Sciences and Research will also be a part of the trial, which will take place at 19 sites across the country, covering 1,140 participants.