Covishield Elicits Better Antibody Response Than Covaxin: Study

The study revealed that both vaccines-- Covishield and Covaxin-- elicited a good response after two doses, but seropositivity rate and median anti-spike antibody were significantly higher in Covishield,

The efficacy of the two major vaccines administered in India - Covishield by Serum Institute of India (SII) under license from AstraZeneca and Covaxin by Bharat Biotech - has remained one of the most discussed topics in the country.

If you go by the latest study, Indian health care workers who were administered Covishield have shown better antibody response than the Covaxin recipients.

What are the findings of the latest study?

The study is basically aimed at analysing the antibody response after two complete doses of Covishield and Covaxin in Indians. A pan-Indian cross-sectional coronavirus vaccine-induced antibody titre (COVAT) study measured Sars-CoV-2 anti-spike binding antibody quantitatively 21 days or more after the first and second dose of two vaccines.

The study comprised of healthcare workers who have been administered either of the two vaccines Covishield and Covaxin and are with or without past history of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

The study has been published in an online archive for unpublished manuscripts in medical sciences medRxiv. According to the Business Standard report, after two shots of the vaccines, 98 percent of recipients of Covishield exhibited antibody response, while 80 percent of Covaxin recipients showed a similar response.

Seropositivity signifies the presence of antibodies in the blood serum. Seropositivity rates to anti-spike antibodies were significantly higher in Covishield recipients compared to Covaxin after the first dose, the study claimed. It is to be noted that the current study is a preprint and has not been peer-reviewed, so should not be used to guide clinical practice.

The study revealed that both vaccines-- Covishield and Covaxin-- elicited a good response after two doses, but seropositivity rate and median anti-spike antibody were significantly higher in Covishield, as per news agency ANI report.

"Amongst the 552 HCW (325 Male, 227 Female), 456 and 96 received the first dose of Covishield and Covaxin respectively. Overall, 79.3 percent showed seropositivity after the first dose. Responder rate and median (IQR) rise in anti-spike antibody were significantly higher in Covishield vs. Covaxin recipient (86.8 vs. 43.8 percent; 61.5 vs. 6 AU/ml; both p<0.001)," the study said.

However, the study concluded both vaccines have shown to elicit a good immune response.