Covaxin can protect against Omicron if…: ICMR, Bharat Biotech’s vaccine data

The experts notified that the emergence of Omicron raised concern around the immune escape from vaccine-induced neutralising antibodies leading to increased transmissibility and causing breakthrough and reinfection. Plus “reports of waning of antibody responses against the emerging variants of concern (VoCs) of virus for other approved vaccines have raised concern globally,” Dr Pragya Yadav, senior scientist at the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune, told news agency PTI. 

Speaking about the benefit of the third dose, Dr Gajanan Sakpal, another senior scientist at the NIV, said, “The antibody response was higher for participants administered with booster doses for B.1 and the VoCs — Delta, Beta and Omicron variants.”

This indicates that the booster dose of Covaxin robustly triggered neutralising antibody responses and efficiently neutralised the multiple variants of SARS-CoV-2, Sakpal said.

For the study, published in the Journal of Travel Medicine, as many as 51 participants who received two doses of Covaxin collected six months post second dose and 28 days after receiving a third (booster) dose (given on day 215th post-second dose) and its impact against the Omicron VoC was evaluated. 

“We conclude that the neutralising antibody responses were significantly elevated after third dose of BBV152/Covaxin against the homologous B.1 (19.11 fold) and other heterologous strains (16.51 fold), Beta (14.70 fold) and Omicron (18.53 fold) VoCs, providing assurance of a protective immune response of booster in recipients,” the study stated.

“The data emphasises the need for speedup of the booster doses to individuals for dealing with emerging VoCs and its outcome to protect against death, severity and hospitalisation burden,” it stated.