Protection against Delta five times higher with Covaxin booster: Study

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 8

Bharat Biotech on Saturday announced results from the highly anticipated trial studying the immunogenicity and safety of the Covaxin (BBV152) a whole-virion inactivated Covid-19 vaccine as a booster dose and said studies had shown the booster dose offered five times higher protection than the primary two-dose regime of Covaxin.

India will begin the rollout of boosters for health workers and 60-plus people with comorbidities from January 10. The study authors said Covaxin was the first in India to report safety and immunogenicity results from a booster clinical trial — a phase-2 double-blind, randomised controlled trial.

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The analysis showed six months after a two-dose BBV152 vaccination series cell-mediated immunity and neutralising antibodies to both homologous and heterologous strains (Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Delta plus) persisted above baseline, although the magnitude of the responses had declined.

Furthermore, neutralising antibodies against homologous (same dose) and heterologous (mixed dose) SARS-CoV-2 variants increased 19 to 265 fold after a third vaccination.

Booster BBV152 vaccination is safe and may be necessary to ensure persistent immunity to prevent breakthrough infections, researchers said, adding neutralisation titers against the wild type and Delta variants was five times higher than after a two-dose schedule.

Over 2 crore adolescents get first dose

New Delhi: More than 2 crore children aged 15 to 18 years have received the first dose of Covid-19 within five days of the commencement of Covid inoculation drive for children. India has overall administered 1,50,61,92,903 doses. More than 91 per cent of the adults have now been covered with the first dose and over 66 per cent have been fully inoculated. TNS

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