Dikhyaa Mohanty 
Two doses of Covaxin are 50 per cent effective against symptomatic COVID-19, as per the first real-world assessment of India’s indigenous coronavirus vaccine published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal. The results of an interim study showed that two doses of Covaxin, also known as BBV152, had 77.8 per cent efficacy against symptomatic disease and present no serious safety concerns.
According to the reports the latest study assessed 2,714 hospital workers at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi, from April 15 May 15, who were symptomatic and underwent RT-PCR test for COVID-19 detection. Researchers noted that the Delta variant was the dominant strain in India during the study period, accounting for approximately 80 per cent of all confirmed COVID-19 cases.
Manish Soneja, Additional Professor of Medicine at AIIMS New Delhi stated that their study offers a more complete picture of how BBV152 (Covaxin) performs in the field and should be considered in the context of COVID-19 surge conditions in India, combined with the possible immune evasive potential of the Delta variant. Their findings add to the growing body of evidence that rapid vaccine rollout programmes remain the most promising path to pandemic control while public health policies must continue to include additional protective measures, such as mask-wearing and social distancing.
The study found that the vaccine effectiveness against symptomatic COVID-19 after two doses of Covaxin with the second dose administered 14 or more days before undergoing RT-PCR testing was 50 per cent. The effectiveness of two vaccine doses remained stable over the seven-week follow-up period. The adjusted vaccine effectiveness of the first dose, estimated after seven and 21 days, was low, which is consistent with the performance of other preventives against the Delta variant.
