Covishield, Covaxin effective against Indian strain of coronavirus: Study

New Delhi : Both Covishield and Covaxin are being administered in India to its citizens to safeguard them against contagious coronavirus. A study has revealed that both the medicines are effective against the Indian strain and show mild illness in case of infection post vaccination.

Anurag Agrawal, the Director of the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), said the study on effectiveness of the available vaccines on the B.1.617 variant of SARS-CoV2 suggests that post vaccination, the infections are milder.

The B.1.617 variant is also known by the name ''double mutant'' or the ''Indian strain''.

"Initial positive neutralisation studies of B.1.617, with both post-Covaxin or Covishield sera, are correlatable with milder disease during post-vaccination breakthrough infections. This is a positive while we get quantitative data for better understanding of infection protection," Mr Agrawal tweeted.

Another study by the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) in Hyderabad under the CSIR suggests that early results using in-vitro neutralisation assay show that both convalescent (prior infection) sera and Covishield-vaccinated sera offer protection against the B.1.617 variant.

"Very preliminary but encouraging result: #Covishield protects against #B1617. Early results using in vitro neutralization assay show that both convalescent (prior infection) sera and Covishield vaccinated sera offer protection against the B.1.617 variant, aka #DoubleMutant," CCMB Director Rakesh Mishra tweeted last week.

The Indian strain has been largely found in the people infected in Maharashtra and Delhi.