Covaxin booster doses effective against variants, shows study

Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin

Bharat Biotech, on July 20, announced that the third dose of COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin has proven to be safe, well-tolerated, and immunogenic in subjects in controlled clinical trials.

The study, which was conducted on about 184 subjects, who were randomised 1:1 and received either a booster dose of BBV154 or a placebo, nearly six months after the primary series of 2 doses, has been published in Nature.

Subjects were evaluated for safety, neutralising antibody responses against variants of concern, binding antibodies against spike protein, receptor binding domain, N proteins, and for memory T and B cell responses to demonstrate cell-mediated immunity.

Krishna Ella, chairman and managing director, Bharat Biotech, said, “Our team has now demonstrated that Covaxin is a multi-epitope vaccine with antibodies against spike, RBD, and N proteins.”

Post-booster dose, according to Ella, the vaccine has proven neutralising antibody responses against variants of concern and long-term protection through memory T and B cell responses.

“We have now achieved our goal of developing a safe and efficacious vaccine with long-term protection against a spectrum of variants.”