Tuesday, March 19, 2024
HomeOther'sHealthAntibodies reduce drastically 4 months after covid vaccination- Indian study

Antibodies reduce drastically 4 months after covid vaccination- Indian study

Covid antibodies developed after both doses of either Covishield or Covaxin were found diminished to a great extent after 4 months of the first shot in an Indian study.  

614 fully vaccinated healthcare workers participated in the study, which hasn’t been peer-reviewed yet. The researchers said that the findings from this could assist the government in deciding for booster doses to be administered to people. A few Western countries, including the UK, the US and others have started providing booster doses to people as a British study too showed that immunization developed after Pfizer and AstraZeneca starts to decrease within 6 months of vaccination.  

However, the Indian study’s researchers said that the drop in antibodies do not directly imply that vaccinated people will no longer stay protected from the virus’s adverse effects. The director of the study said that the memory cells of the human body might remember the virus and offer enough protection. 

ALSO READ:Can Antibodies Produced by a Covid Variant Neutralise Others?

Nevertheless, they need 6 months to understand the activity of the virus and the effect of the antibodies on it, Bhubaneswar’s Sanghamitra Pati of the Regional Medical Research Centre said, adding that this will also give a clear picture on when to give booster doses. “And we would urge similar studies in different areas for pan-India data,” she said on Tuesday.  

This study is the first of its kind as it involves the assessment on the two major vaccines in India, the Covishield and Covaxin. Published in the Research Square pre-print medium, it could offer the required information after peer-review on the necessity of booster doses, which health officials are also studying.  

However, the priority at the moment is to give both shots of the vaccines to the entire population of India- 944 million adults. According to reports, merely 19 per cent of this figure has only been vaccinated with both doses till now. Meanwhile, over 60 per cent have received the first dose.  

Since the second wave emerged, India was facing the wrath of the virus. Though the arrival of a third wave continues to scare millions, the number of covid cases are reducing. During the second wave’s peak in early May, India recorded over 400,000 daily cases. The nation has witnessed 443,213 reported fatalities till now with over 33.29 million cases, which experts fear is a much smaller version of the actual figure.