The study, which is a pre-print and not yet peer-reviewed, is based on samples from 20 people who have recovered from Covid and 17 people, 28 days after they received both the doses of Covaxin.
New Delhi:
Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin offers protection against the Beta and the Delta variants of coronavirus, a joint study by researchers from Pune’s National Institute of Virology, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Bharat Biotech has found.
While the Delta variant (B.1.617.2) was first found in India and is the dominant strain in the country, the Beta variant (B.1.351) was first discovered in South Africa.
The study, which is a pre-print and not yet peer-reviewed, is based on samples from 20 people who have recovered from Covid and 17 people, 28 days after they received both the doses of Covaxin.
Covaxin demonstrated protective response against the two variants of concern, the study claims.
ICMR chief Balram Bhargava and is among the authors of the report. One of the authors is from vaccine maker Bharat Biotech.
The highly infectious and fast-spreading Delta strain caused the deadly second wave in India, a government study had said. It is “more infectious” than the Alpha variant first detected in the UK and is 50 per cent more contagious, research showed. Scientists, however, say there is no evidence yet of the role of the Delta variant in causing more deaths or in the greater severity of cases.