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Business News/ Science / Health/  Covaxin vs Covishield: How effective are they against COVID-19? What we know so far
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Covaxin vs Covishield: How effective are they against COVID-19? What we know so far

Covaxin, India's first home-made shots against COVID-19, has shown high levels of antibody response in a mid-stage trial
  • 'Covishield is highly effective vaccine against novel coronavirus,' Adar Poonawalla said
  • A sanitation worker receives the first dose of the Covaxin vaccine, at Hindu Rao Hospital, in New Delhi. (HT_PRINT)Premium
    A sanitation worker receives the first dose of the Covaxin vaccine, at Hindu Rao Hospital, in New Delhi. (HT_PRINT)

    The second phase of COVID-19 vaccination in India started from this month. The central government earlier granted emergency use approval to Covishield by Serum Institute of India and Covaxin by Bharat Biotech. In India, beneficiaries get two doses of the vaccine at a 28-day interval.

    How efficient are they in fighting against coronavirus infection? Take a look.

    Covaxin

    Covaxin, India's first home-made shots against COVID-19, has shown high levels of antibody response in a mid-stage trial. The company said it had shown 81% efficacy in preventing symptomatic COVID-19, based on interim analysis of late stage trials.

    The vaccine has been developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune. Covaxin is an inactivated vaccine developed by chemically treating novel coronavirus samples to make them incapable of reproduction.

    The double-dose vaccine showed significantly higher neutralizing antibody responses in Phase II than in Phase I due to the difference in dosing regimens that changed to a 4-week apart injection schedule from a 2-week course, researchers said in the study published in medical journal Lancet.

    But it said the Phase II trial, which had 380 participants, enrolled a small number of participants aged 12–18 years and 55–65 years and follow-on studies are required to establish immunogenicity in children and in older people.

    It also said that while the trial included participants from across nine Indian states, the study population lacked ethnic and gender diversity, "underscoring the importance of evaluating BBV152 (the vaccine) in other populations".

    Covishield:

    The local version of Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine will be known as Covishield. Serum Institute of India, the world's largest vaccine manufacturer by volume, joined hands with British-Swedish drugmaker to produce 1 billion doses of its COVID-19 vaccine.

    It uses a weakened version of a chimpanzee common coldvirus that encodes instructions for making proteins from the novel coronavirus to generate an immune response and prevent infection.

    Two doses of the vaccine, four weeks apart, were originally thought to offer the best protection against COVID-19. The scientists revealed that the Oxford vaccine had an overall efficacy of 70%, but could be around 90% effective when administered as a half dose followed by a full dose a month later.

    The vaccine appeared to be more than 80 percent effective at preventing severe illness among elderly, at-risk individuals after a single dose, according to preliminary research.

    "Covishield is highly effective vaccine against novel coronavirus," Adar Poonawalla, chief executive officer, Serum Institute of India earlier mentioned.

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    Published: 10 Mar 2021, 07:29 PM IST
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