Bhubaneswar: The level of antibodies produced between Covaxin and Covishield recipients is reduced after two and three months of second-dose vaccination, revealing a follow-up study conducted by researchers in Odisha.
Samples were collected from 614 participants for research led by the ICMR-Regional Medical Research Center (RMRC), Bhubaneswar.
Among these participants, 308 (50.2%) were covishield recipients and the remaining 306 (49.8%) got Covaxin.
A total of 81 breakthrough cases were recorded among participants for whom the post-vaccination infection acted as a booster.
The remaining 533 health workers without post-vaccination infection history showed a significant decrease in antibodies.
“We have found that the covaxine recipient’s antibody level decreases after two months of vaccination of the second dose, while it is three months in the case of the recipient of the Covishield,” said Debdutta Bhattacharya, a senior scientist from ICMR-RMRC Bhubaneswar.
Is there a need for booster shots (after a significantly vaccinated state population with two doses) requires scientific evidence, said Bhattacharya.
Research and follow-up will then be very helpful in producing such important evidence, he feels.
A total of 24 researchers from RMRC Bhubaneswar, Institute of Life Sciences (ILS) Bhubaneswar, MKCG Medical College and Hospital, Religious, Kimsar Bhubaneswar, Vimsar Burla and a mixed chest clinic took part in the study which was a pre-printed publication.
Bhattacharya said this research was the first of its kind from India where they attended the recipient of the Covaxin and Covishield vaccines for six months and correlated with gender, age, blood group and co-morbidity.