Covishield vaccine demonstrated more robust immune response compared to Covaxin: Study

The findings of the study, which have been published in the journal The Lancet Regional Health Southeast Asia, offer valuable insights into the quality and quantity of immune responses induced by these vaccines against SARS-CoV-2, with significant implications for shaping future vaccination strategies.

A new study by a consortium of 11 institutes, led by scientists from the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), has found that the Covishield vaccine demonstrated more robust immune responses compared to Covaxin.

The study compared the immunogenicity of Covishield and Covaxin, the two primary COVID-19 vaccines widely used in India.

The findings of the study, which have been published in the journal The Lancet Regional Health Southeast Asia, offer valuable insights into the quality and quantity of immune responses induced by these vaccines against SARS-CoV-2, with significant implications for shaping future vaccination strategies.

The key findings state that Covishield, leveraging a virus vector to deliver the spike protein of the coronavirus, consistently demonstrated more robust immune response compared to Covaxin, an inactivated virus vaccine.

“Notably, Covishield exhibited a near-complete immune response in the majority of participants, whereas the response to Covaxin was variable, particularly among those inoculated before the emergence of the omicron variant,” states the key findings released by NCBS.

The study, carried out from June 2021 to January 2022, involved assessing 691 participants, aged between 18 and 45 years, from Bengaluru and Pune.

It examined their vaccination records and monitored their immune responses at different intervals, both prior to and following vaccination.