Covaxin booster effectively neutralises Omicron, Delta variants: Study

Hyderabad: Citing the discovery from a recently conducted study, Hyderabad based pharmaceutical firm-Bharat Biotech on Wednesday said that its booster dose administered six months after its two doses can neutralise the coronavirus's Omicron and Delta variants.

As per Bharat Biotech's official statement, the study conducted by Emory University using a live virus neutralisation assay showed the booster dose generated robust neutralising antibody responses against both Omicron (B.1.529) and Delta (B.1.617.2).

Earlier studies had demonstrated the neutralising potential of Covaxin against other SARS-CoV-2 variants -- Alpha, Beta, Delta - Zeta and Kappa, it added.

Dr. Krishna Ella, chairman and managing director of Bharat Biotech, said, "We are in a continuous state of innovation and product development for Covaxin. The positive neutralisation responses against the Omicron and Delta variants validate our hypothesis of a multi-epitope vaccine generating both humoral and cell-mediated immune responses."

Citing the study results, Bharat Biotech noted that more than 90 per cent of all individuals boosted with Covaxin showed neutralising antibodies.

Bharat Biotech pointed out that these data add to the body of evidence that the broad-spectrum mechanism of action of a whole virus inactivated Covid-19 vaccine like Covaxin is a viable option in this continuously evolving pandemic.

"Data from this preliminary analysis show individuals receiving a booster dose of Covaxin have a significant immune response to both the Omicron and Delta variants. These findings suggest that a booster dose has the potential to reduce disease severity and hospitalizations," said Mehul Suthar, assistant professor at the Emory Vaccine Center of the university in Atlanta, US, who led the laboratory analysis.

The new study will be published on the pre-print server medRXiv shortly.