Guwahati: A three-dose course of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine, marketed in India as Covishield, is effective against the newest Covid virus strain Omicron, according to data from an Oxford University lab trial released on Thursday.
Covishield, manufactured by Serum Institute of India, is the most widely used Covid vaccine in India, with over 124 crore doses provided to date.
The evidence comes ahead of an important meeting of India’s top immunization advisory group, which will discuss the necessity for booster or additional doses in the local context, especially in light of the Omicron issue.
The study’s findings, which have yet to be published in a peer-reviewed medical journal, are similar to those of competing vaccines such as Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, who have also discovered that the third dose of their shots considerably increases vaccination efficacy.
The trial on AstraZeneca’s vaccine, Vaxzevria (formerly known as Covid), found that neutralizing levels against Omicron following a three-dose course of the vaccination were generally similar to those against the virus’s Delta version after two doses.
According to AstraZeneca, the study was conducted by Oxford University researchers who were independent of those who worked on the vaccination with AstraZeneca.
In a statement, Mene Pangalos, the head of AstraZeneca’s biopharmaceuticals R&D, said, “We expect we will find that T-cell response provides permanent protection against severe disease and hospitalizations as we better understand Omicron.”
According to the business, antibody levels against Omicron following the booster dose were higher than antibodies in patients who had been infected with Covid-19 and recovered spontaneously.