Covaxin And Covishield Works Against Alpha, Beta, Gamma And Delta Variants Of Covid-19: ICMR

Addressing a press conference, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Director General (DG) Dr Balram Bhargava said that the Serum Institute of India's Covishield and indigenously developed Covaxin works against variants of SARS-CoV-2 like Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta.

Also, he informed that in a first-ever study, India would come up with its findings on how effective the vaccines are against Delta Plus.

Delta Plus has recently been cultured, and it is being examined whether the vaccines are effective against this variant. The report will be available in 7 to 10 days.

"Delta Plus is a new variant. 12 countries in the world and 11 states in the country have reported this variant. It has been found in a very localised way - one patient here, two there. But we have isolated it and work is going on," the ICMR DG said.

According to the data presented, while Bharat Biotech's Covaxin remains equally effective against the Alpha variant, against Beta and Delta variant, its neutralising capabilities reduce threefold. On the other hand, Covishield's capabilities reduce 2.5 to 9 fold against Alpha and two-fold against Delta.

Dr Bhargava said data also show that Pfizer and Moderna's capabilities reduce significantly against the Delta variant, reports Hindustan Times.