Can Covishield, Covaxin Booster Provide Better Protection Against New Variants?

A recent study by Bharat Biotech and ICMR has shown that Covaxin can provide protection against Omicron and other COVID variants if the third vaccine dose is taken approximately 6 months after the first two doses. Another senior scientist at NIV, Dr. Gajanan Sakpal, said, as reported by PTI, “The antibody response was higher for participants administered with booster doses for B.1 and VOCs – delta, beta and omicron variants. “

This indicates that a booster dose of covaxin Sakpal said that neutralizing antibody responses strongly triggered and efficiently neutralized multiple variants of SARS-CoV-2.

During this, Adar PoonawallaThe Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Serum Institute of India (SII) said, “Yes our vaccines will work, but you will have to take a booster for a future version.”

Precautionary dosing is not a substitute for precautionary measures

However, health experts are of the opinion that ‘precautionary doses’ are not a substitute for other precautionary measures.

“The pandemic is still on and we will definitely see more waves, but the timing of the waves cannot be predicted,” Dr Rajeev Jayadevan, head of the research cell at the Indian Medical Association (IMA), Kochi, told PTI. Take care that people continue to wear masks, follow social distancing. He further said that techniques like contact tracing and testing should not be done away with.

Stating that the vaccine has significantly reduced the fatalities and severity of the disease related to COVID, he said, “The public should not think that if they have taken a booster dose everything will be fine. All The measures need to be continued and followed.”

“It is not a substitute for other (precautionary) measures,” he said.

(with inputs from agencies)