Press Trust of IndiaFeb 18, 2021 11:29:07 IST
An initial study shows that the two COVID-19 vaccines approved in India are effective against the UK variant of the novel coronavirus but there are no data on their efficacy against African mutants. -South and Brazilian found in the country. On Tuesday, the Ministry of Health said four had been found with the South African variant of SARS-CoV-2 and one positive test for the Brazilian version, the first for India, encouraging carriers to -science to emphasize the need for more data and studies so that the country of the country A vaccination program can be adapted to advanced growth. The number of people who have been positive for the UK variable in the country has risen to 187, officials said.
The vaccines currently approved for emergency use in India are Covishield, from the Oxford-AstraZeneca stable manufactured by the Pune Serum Institute in India, and Covaxin, developed by Bharat Biotech based in India. Hyderabad in collaboration with the Medical Research Council of India and the National Institute of Geology (NIV).
Answering the highest question in many minds, researcher Deepak Sehgal said it is difficult to say how effective the two will be against the emerging new variables, especially those from South Africa and Brazil if they have not been properly studied by scientists.
Nevertheless, among the two current vaccines in India, Covaxin may perform better against the new mutants as it generates protection against the whole virus. . The Covishield vaccine targets just one protein of the virus, said Sehgal, head of the Department of Life Sciences, Shiv Nadar University, Uttar Pradesh. PTI.
Covaxin, he explained, can produce antibodies against many epitopes, or many regions of the whole virus, while Covishield makes antibodies against just a specific area of the virus.
So, even if there is a mutation in one area, antibodies are being released against other areas of the virus that will be effective against Covaxin, he said.
Covaxin is an “inactivated” vaccine that has been developed by chemically treating novel coronavirus samples to prevent their reproducibility. This process releases the viral proteins, including the spike protein of the coronavirus which it uses to enter the human cells, intact.
Covishield contains an engineered version of adenoviruses that infects chimpanzees to carry the gene that is responsible for the spike protein of the novel coronavirus.
Adenoviruses are common viruses that usually cause cold or flu-like illnesses.
Both vaccines claim to have some effect against the UK variant.
According to a study still published on 26 participants, Covaxin was found to be effective against UK variables, Bharat Biotech said in late January.
Similarly, a study by Oxford University found that the ChAdOx1-nCoV19 vaccine, known as Covishield in India, was effective in treating the UK variant.
Psychologist Vineeta Bal noted that the evolving UK variable had only one simulation so these results were not surprising.
While the results of Bharat Biotech on a small number of samples to study UK anti-virus prevention in the growing context, this can be taken as relevant preliminary data, said Bal, from the Institute Pune Indian Science Education and Research (IISER).
However, both the South African and Brazilian changes have many more mutations so a significant reduction in efficiency is likely to be seen, she said.
We do not yet have a response for efficiency against the new variables. I am confident that efforts are underway to test sera (blood) from vaccinated individuals for their ability to inhibit the growth of new changes in the print culture system, Bal said. ri PTI.
For that, the variable virus must be available and also the test facility. NIV, for example, has the potential to do that and I’m sure they’re trying to test it, she said, adding that results are not yet available in the public domain.
Globally, 10 COVID-19 vaccines have been approved by several countries or are under emergency use.
New variants of coronavirus appear that are more contagious than the one that started the pandemic.
UK government scientific advisers say the now-dominant COVID-19 variant could be 30-70 per cent more “lethal” than previous variables, expressing concerns about how mutations could changing the characteristics of the disease.
A recent study suggests that the vaccine co-developed by the American pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and the German biotechnology company BioNTech may neutralize mutations of the first-reported novel coronavirus in the UK and South Africa.
The research, published in the journal Nature Medicine, noted that the vaccine is effective against coronavirus mutations that carry N501Y and E484K mutations.
In January, US biotechnology company Moderna said laboratory studies showed that its COVID-19 vaccine would protect against changes in the coronavirus first identified in the UK and South Africa.
However, out of caution, the company will test a second boost of its vaccine – to make three shots in total – and has begun preclinical studies on a boost specifically for the African variety. -South.
In the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, the messenger RNA – or mRNA – acts as a plan to secrete the coronary virus spike protein and is captured by lipid molecules and delivered into human cells. mRNAs are a plan for the production of proteins in cells.
Based on the reports rather than hard published data, it appears that rapid spread of these new variables would pose some risk to individuals who have recovered from an earlier disease as well as those who have recovered. already vaccinated, Bal said.
In India we do not know how effective testing, screening and quarantine is implemented for calls and cases.
Accordingly, transmission can be prevented with varying efficiencies and in the hope that real transmission does not occur and that another round of locking will not be required, she said.