Making a significant announcement, Bharat Biotech announced on Wednesday that the booster dose of the Covaxin has proven effective in neutralizing both the Omicron and Delta variants of the virus.
Informing through the official Twitter handle, Bharat Biotech said that the booster shot of Covaxin generated robust neutralizing antibody responses against both Omicron (B.1.529) and Delta (B.1.617.2) using a live virus neutralization assay.
COVAXIN® (BBV152) BOOSTER SHOWN TO NEUTRALIZE BOTH OMICRON AND DELTA VARIANTS OF SARS-COV-2#BBV152 #COVAXIN #BHARATBIOTECH #COVID19VACCINE #OMICRON #DELTAVARIANT #SARS_COV_2 #COVAXINAPPROVAL #BOOSTERDOSE #PANDEMIC PIC.TWITTER.COM/0IGFMM13RS
— BHARATBIOTECH (@BHARATBIOTECH) JANUARY 12, 2022
In a statement, the vaccine manufacturer said that during the studies, 100% of the test serum samples showed neutralization of the Delta variant and more than 90% of serum samples showed neutralization of the Omicron variant.
Emory University conducted the study that yielded the aforementioned findings. The study shows that six months after a two-dose BBV152 vaccination series cell-mediated immunity and neutralizing antibodies to both homologous (D614G) and heterologous strains (Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Delta plus) persisted above baseline, although the magnitude of the responses had declined.
Mehul Suthar, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Emory Vaccine Center, while talking about the study, said, “Data from this preliminary analysis show individuals receiving a booster dose of Covaxin have a significant immune response to both the Omicron and Delta variants. The findings further suggest that a booster dose has the potential to reduce disease severity and hospitalizations.”
Chairman and Managing Director of Bharat Biotech, Dr. Krishna Ella said, “We are in a continuous state of innovation and product development for Covaxin. The positive neutralization responses against the Omicron and Delta variants validate our hypothesis of a multi-epitope vaccine generating both humoral and cell-mediated immune responses.”
She further said that Bharat Biotech’s goal of developing a global vaccine against COVID-19 has been achieved with the use of Covaxin as a universal vaccine for adults and children.
Covaxin, along with Covishield, is one of the primary vaccines used in India’s COVID-19 vaccination campaign. Covaxin has been developed by Bharat Biotech, a biotechnology company based in Hyderabad. Meanwhile, India has started administering a booster or “precautionary dose” of the Covid-19 vaccine to health and frontline workers, and people aged 60 and above with comorbidities from Jan 10.
