Amid calls for Covid-19 vaccines targeting Delta variant, study shows Covishield is the right choice

New Delhi, Aug 04: Amid call for vaccines targeting the highly transmissible delta variant, a study published by ICMR shows that people with both doses of Covishield vaccine have higher immunity against the Delta variant of the coronavirus.

The study also revealed that the breakthrough cases and the COVID-19 recovered individuals with one or two doses of Covishield vaccine had relatively higher neutralizing responses against the Delta variant in comparison to the participants who were administered either one or two doses of Covishield.

The study showed the COVID-19 recovered individuals with one or two-dose vaccination had relatively higher protection against Delta in comparison to the vaccines with one or two-dose vaccination.

The study by ICMR and National Institute of Virology, Pune says long-term follow-up of participants could help to understand the impact of natural infection and vaccination on long-term protection from SARS-CoV-2 offered by Covishield.

As third wave of covid sweeps through England, delat wave has been blamed for infecting both unvaccinated people, especially those aged 12 to 24. The study took samples from about 98,000 people in England.

"Development of vaccines against delta may be warranted," in the light of evidence that the strain's spike protein has mutated to a point where antibodies raised by current shots are becoming less effective, the researchers told Bloomberg.

Delta remains the most rapidly rising lineage globally that is responsible for multiple outbreaks, including across the globe.

The Delta variant is believed to be behind the deadly second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in the country, which peaked in April and May. A mutation of Delta, called the Delta Plus is likely to cause a possible third wave of infections in the country.

India is currently using made-in-India vaccines - Covishield manufactured by SII, Covaxin of Bharat Biotech and Russian Sputnik V developed by Dr Reddy's in its COVID-19 immunisation programme.