Be it Delta or Delta Plus, none of the variants can pierce the mask, Niti Aayog member (health) VK Paul said.
The World Health Organization recently expressed concerns that the Delta variant of Covid-19, the variant first detected in India, was reducing the effectiveness of existing Covid-19 vaccines around the world. A new mutant of the variant has already been found in India, in Jalgaon and Ratnagiri of Maharashtra, as a result of which the Ministry of Health has asked Maharashtra, Kerala, and Madhya Pradesh to exercise caution.
Variants of Covid-19 have become a source of concern across the world as experts deliberate on the effectiveness of vaccines in preventing infection with the variants.
Covaxin and Covishield
Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin and Serum Institute of India’s Covishield are effective against the Delta variant, the Department of Health said recently. “The two vaccines are given in India, Covishield and Covaxin, (Sputnik joined later) are effective against Delta. But to what extent and what proportion of antibody titers produced by these vaccines will soon be shared,” the secretary said. to Union Health, Rajesh Bhushan. said.
Sputnik V
The Russian-made vaccine, which has become part of India’s vaccination campaign, is effective against all variants of Covid known today, said Gamaleya center director Alexander Ginsburg. “The antibodies developed after vaccination with Sputnik V protect against all variants of COVID known today, from the British variant to the so-called Delta variant, first detected in India,” he said. Sputnik has claimed better protection against the new variants and that is why its distributor Russian Direct Investment Fund has offered a booster injection to other vaccine makers, which will be the third injection after the two regular doses of the vaccine.
Pfizer
Pfizer which is finalizing the agreement in India to supply its vaccines is also known to be effective to some extent against the Delta variants. But the protection is against hospitalization; the jury is still out on whether he can protect against infection. A recent analysis from Public Health England recently found that the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines offer over 90% high protection against hospitalization due to the Delta variant.
Not much is known about the effectiveness of vaccines against Delta Plus as it is only an emerging variant. Delta Plus has been found to be resistant to monoclonal antibody cocktail treatment for covid-19, which was recently authorized in India. But that doesn’t say anything about its response to Covid-19 vaccines at this time.
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