Reduced efficacy of covaxin compared to the delta variant

An anti-Kovid vaccine called Kovacin was developed in India and used extensively on site, showing less effectiveness during its deployment in real life than its clinical trials, a study published on Tuesday illustrates this finding by delta growth. Transformation.

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However, the study concludes that the study of covaxin’s effect against coronavirus infection “against the backdrop of a strong surge in cases where the potential dominance of the delta variant was encountered” was published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.

Kovacin, manufactured by Bharat Biotech Group, is the first antiviral vaccine to be developed in India.

Although approved by the World Health Organization (WHO), Kovacin, a two-dose vaccine containing the inactivated virus, has been used on site since the beginning of the year, but officials have not expected clinical results. Attempts.

The latter, given in early November, had a positive effect: among those vaccinated, three-quarters were less likely to receive placebo.

The study, published Tuesday, looks at what happened when the vaccine was promoted in real life, so much later than clinical trials. Its data date back to the spring of 2021, the height of the epidemic wave in India.

The authors examined the condition of about 2000 caregivers in a hospital in New Delhi. Half were diagnosed with COVID-19 positive, and the other, asymptomatic cases were excluded from the study.

Conclusions show lower efficacy than clinical trials: these data indicate that half of those vaccinated prevented symptomatic infection and not more than three-quarters.

The authors further explain this decline by the rise of the delta variant. It is more contagious and, therefore, the most serious vaccine.

“Our results emphasize the need to implement non-pharmacological measures and to implement them (this vaccine) expeditiously while continuing to adhere to them”, they believe, as well as barrier gestures such as wearing a mask.

This study did not just measure the effectiveness of the vaccine against severe forms, but also the risk of infection and the crucial issue of the burden it places on the health system.