New Delhi: A third booster dose of the AstraZeneca vaccinia vaccine showed an increased antibody response to the Omicron version of SARS-CoV-2, according to preliminary data released by British-Swedish biopharma major AstraZeneca on Thursday.
The vaccine is jointly developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca, and is administered in India as Covishield.
The results augurs well for India, which has already begun. giving a “caution” or booster dose For healthcare workers and people above 60 with comorbidities. The Center has said that the precautionary dose would be the third dose of the same vaccine that a person has taken – be it Covishield or Covaxin.
In an ongoing safety and immunogenicity trial of the vaccine, it was observed that the COVID-19 vaccine, when given as a third dose, suppressed the body’s immune response to beta, delta, alpha and gamma variants of SARS-CoV-2. increases in. , stated in media reports.
Third dose of AstraZeneca vaccine: What the trial found
The vaccine showed an increased antibody response to the Omicron variant, a separate analysis of samples from the test revealed. PTI reported that the results were previously observed in individuals vaccinated with Vaxjeveria or mRNA vaccine.
“Vaxazevaria has protected hundreds of millions of people worldwide from COVID-19 and these data suggest it has an important role as a third-dose booster, used after other vaccines,” PTI told Sir Maine Pangalos, Quoting the Executive Vice President. -Chairman, Biopharmaceuticals R&D, AstraZeneca, as the saying goes.
He added that AstraZeneca will continue to advance regulatory submissions around the world for its use as a third-dose booster, given the ongoing urgency of the pandemic and the enhanced immune response to Vaxgeveria. omicron Type.
Because a booster dose is urgently needed amid a tsunami of cases driven by Omicron Edition, the company said it is submitting this additional data to health officials around the world.
A separate phase IV trial, reported in a preprint with The Lancet journal, showed that a third dose of Vaxazevaria significantly increased antibody levels following primary vaccination with CoronaVac (Sinovac Biotech).
AstraZeneca said that this data supports Vaxgeveria as a third-dose booster, regardless of whether the primary vaccination program has been tested.
Professor Sir Andrew J Pollard, principal investigator and director of the Oxford Vaccine Group at the University of Oxford, said that these important studies suggest that after two initial doses of the same vaccine, or after a third dose of vaccinia, after mRNA or inactivated vaccines, strongly Boosts immunity against COVID-19, reports PTI.
Citing Pollard, the report said the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is suitable as an alternative to boosting immunity in populations for countries considering booster programs, which combine the protection already demonstrated with the first two doses. .
The safety and immunogenicity test is called D7220C00001. Its latest update showed that Vaxazevaria continued to be “generally well tolerated”.
Further analysis from the trial is expected to be released in the first half of the year.
D7220C00001 is a partially double-blind, randomized, multinational, active-controlled trial in both previously vaccinated and non-vaccinated adults to determine the safety and immunogenicity of vaxazevaria and AZD2816, against the beta version of SARS-CoV. There is a different vaccine developed for -2 virus.
Vaxzevoria, invented by the University of Oxford, uses a replication-deficient chimpanzee viral vector based on a weakened version of a common cold virus (adenovirus) that causes infection in chimpanzees and contains the spike protein of SARS-CoV- contains genetic material. 2 viruses.
The surface spike protein is produced after vaccination, which subsequently prompts the immune system to attack the SARS-CoV-2 virus when it infects the body.
The vaccine has received conditional marketing authorization or emergency use in more than 90 countries. The vaccine is manufactured and supplied by the Serum Institute of India under a sub-license agreement with AstraZeneca, under the name Covishield.
AstraZeneca said that previous studies support vaxjeveria as a third-dose booster as part of an at-home or heterogeneous schedule.
A third dose of Vaxjeveria, given at least six months after the second dose, was observed to increase antibody levels and maintain T-cell response, as shown a sub-analysis from the COV001 and COV002 trials.
The third dose resulted in higher neutralizing activity against alpha, beta and delta variants than the two-dose regimen.
The COV-BOOST trial showed that a primary vaccine series from Vaxzevria or Pfizer/BioNtech followed by a delta version and a third dose booster of Vaxzevria induced a significantly greater immune response compared to controls against the original strain.
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