Covaxin fights Brazilian variant too

| May 3, 2021, 11:50 IST

The indigenously-developed
vaccine
Covaxin is capable of fighting the Brazilian coronavirus strain, researchers at the
National Institute of Virology
and the
Indian Council of Medical Research
have confirmed. So far, it was found to be effective against the UK variant B.1.1.7 and the double mutant B.1.617, found in Maharashtra.
Researchers studied the neutralisation efficacy of the Brazilian variant, B.1.1.28.2, with the convalescent sera of individuals with natural infection and those who received two doses of Covaxin. They found that individuals after receiving two doses of Covaxin had their immunity boosted against the Brazilian variant.
The ability of Covaxin, developed by
ICMR
in collaboration with
Bharat Biotech
, to fight some of the major Covid-19 variants of concern (VoC) currently in circulation in the country has now been proved.
“The two-dose vaccine regimen significantly boosted the IgG (immunoglobulin G, a type of antibody) titre and neutralizing efficacy against both B.1.1.28.2 (Brazilian variant) and D614G variants (which replaced the original Wuhan strain last year and became a dominant variant world over) compared to that seen with natural infection. The study demonstrated 1.92 and 1.09 fold reductions in the neutralizing titre against B.1.1.28.2 variant in comparison with prototype D614G variant with sera of vaccine recipients and natural infection respectively,” the research said.
However, in India the Brazilian variant is not as widely present as the double mutant, B.1.617, which is found in about 70% of Covid-19 cases in Maharashtra, or the UK strain, B.1.1.7, which is present largely in Punjab.

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