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covishield

A study involving the combination of Covaxin and Covishield yielded the following results: ICMR

by Medically Speaking August 8, 2021

written by Medically Speaking

New Delhi: According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a study on the mixing and matching of two COVID vaccines – Covaxin and Covishield – produced better results.

The study, conducted on people who received two doses of different COVID vaccines in Uttar Pradesh by mistake, suggested that mixing of vaccines was not only safe but also showed better immunogenicity.

Last month, an expert panel of India’s drug regulator, DCGI, recommended conducting a study on mixing doses of Covishield and Covaxin vaccines.

The recommendation came after the Christian Medical College (CMC) in Vellore sought permission to conduct such study.

The Subject Expert Committee of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) said that purpose of this study is to assess whether a person can be given two different vaccine shots — one each of Covishield and Covaxin — to complete the vaccination course.

“The SEC (subject expert committee) after detailed deliberations recommended granting permission to CMC, Vellore for conducting the phase-4 clinical trial covering 300 healthy volunteers for mixing of COVID-19 vaccines Covaxin and Covishield,” a source said, PTI reported.

August 8, 2021 0 comment

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3 time less chance of getting infected after getting both doses of vaccine: study

by Medically Speaking August 6, 2021

written by Medically Speaking

London: People who have received both doses of their coronavirus vaccine are three times less likely to become infected with COVID-19, according to a new UK study.

The Real-time Assessment of Community Transmission (REACT-1) study, one of the UK’s largest studies into COVID-19 infections in the country, reported on Wednesday that infections in England have increased fourfold since the last REACT-1 report, which covered the period from May 20 to June 7.

However, its results did show a slowdown in infections since July 12.

Analysis by Imperial College London and Ipsos MORI, which had over 98,000 volunteers taking part in the study in England between June 24 and July 12, suggests double vaccinated people are also less likely to pass on the virus to others.

“Our vaccination rollout is building a wall of defence that means we can carefully ease restrictions and get back to the things we love, but we need to be cautious as we learn to live with this virus,” said UK Health Secretary Sajid Javid.

“This report shows the importance of taking personal responsibility by self-isolating if you are contact traced, getting tested if you have symptoms and wearing face coverings where appropriate. I urge anyone who has yet to receive a vaccine to get jabbed and take up both doses the vaccines are safe and they are working,” he said.

Data from Public Health England (PHE) shows that the vaccines being administered in the UK are “highly effective” against all variants of COVID-19.

August 6, 2021 0 comment

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People with both doses of Covishield have higher immunity against Delta variant ICMR study suggests

by Medically Speaking Team August 4, 2021

written by Medically Speaking Team

New Delhi: A study published by ICMR and National Institute of Virology, Pune shows that people with both doses of Covishield vaccine have higher immunity against the Delta variant of the coronavirus.

It also said that COVID-19 recovered individuals who were administered Covishield had higher neutralizing responses against the Delta variant.

“The study demonstrated that the breakthrough cases and the COVID-19 recovered individuals with one or two doses of Covishield vaccine had relatively higher neutralizing responses against the Delta variant in comparison to the participants who were administered either one or two doses of Covishield,” it said.

A comparative assessment of Covishield vaccinated individuals were conducted and sera under this study were grouped into five categories: People who took one dose, those who were administered two doses, COVID-19 recovered people who got one dose, COVID-19 recovered individuals who received two doses and breakthrough COVID-19 cases.

An increase in NAb titers was observed for both B.1 and Delta variants in the sera of the participants who had completed two vaccine doses relative to one dose.

Neutralizing antibody titers against B.1 and Delta variants were highest among breakthrough participants which may be due to spike-specific T-cell responses.

A titer is a test that measures the presence and amount of antibodies in the blood.

The study found that significantly lower NAb titers were observed for the Delta relative to B.1 variant. However, NAbs in breakthrough participants and the COVID-19 recovered individuals with one or two-dose vaccination had relatively higher protection against Delta in comparison to the vaccines with one or two-dose vaccination.

Long-term follow-up of participants could help to understand the impact of natural infection and vaccination on long-term protection from SARS-CoV-2 offered by Covishield.

It is important to track the breakthrough infections for immune escape mutants, the report said.

August 4, 2021 0 comment

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Covishield, Covaxin Monthly Production To Be 120, 58 Million Doses Respectively, says Centre

by Medically Speaking Team August 4, 2021

written by Medically Speaking Team

The government informed the Rajya Sabha today that the monthly production capacity of Covishield is expected to be boosted to more than 120 million doses and that of Covaxin to roughly 58 million doses by December, citing information from the COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers.
Mansukh Mandaviya, the Union Health Minister, was responding to a query on the country’s present capacity for manufacturing Covaxin and Covishield, as well as the planned capacity from August to December 2021.

“As communicated by the manufacturers, the monthly vaccine production capacity of Covishield is projected to be increased from 110 million doses per month to more than 120 million doses per month and the production capacity of Covaxin is projected to be increased from 25 million doses per month to around 58 million doses per month,” the minister said in a written reply.

Further, the Department of Biotechnology under the Ministry of Science and Technology has launched ‘Mission Covid Suraksha – the Indian COVID-19 Vaccine Development Mission’.

The Mission is being implemented by Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), a public sector undertaking (PSU) of the Department of Biotechnology, the reply stated.

August 4, 2021 0 comment

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‘You also got vaccinated in July,’ Mansukh Mandaviya responds to Rahul Gandhi’s tweet about vaccine shortages

by Medically Speaking August 1, 2021

written by Medically Speaking

Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, said on Sunday that 130 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine were administered in India in July 2021, and that the process will be accelerated in August 2021. In response to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s tweet about a vaccine shortage, the minister made these remarks on Twitter.

“More than 13 crore vaccines have been administered in India in the month of July. It is going to accelerate this month. We are proud of our healthcare workers for this achievement. Now you should also be proud of them and the country,” Mandaviya tweeted.

Rahul Gandhi had tweeted, “July has passed, vaccine shortage has not gone.” Along with the tweet, Gandhi also shared a 30-second video clip titled “COVID: Will India be able to meet its vaccination target?” which showed several news headlines about vaccine crunch in different places. In the beginning of July, Gandhi had sent out a similar tweet in which he said, “July has come, vaccines have not #WhereAreVaccines.”

In his reply, Mandaviya took a swipe at the Congress leader saying that he was also one among the several people who had received their Covid-19 vaccine in July.

“I have heard that you are one of the 13 crore people who were vaccinated in July. But you did not speak a word for our scientists, did not appeal to the public to take the vaccine. Meaning, you are doing petty politics in the name of vaccination. Not the vaccine, but you lack maturity,” Mandaviya tweeted.

Rahul Gandhi was inoculated with the first dose of the vaccine on July 28 (Wednesday) and hence could not attend the parliament on July 29 and 30, news agency ANI reported citing unnamed sources within the Congress.

While the BJP has been questioning the Congress leaders about their vaccination, the Congress insisted that the Centre should concentrate more on increasing vaccination and vaccine supply in the country.

August 1, 2021 0 comment

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Green Signals Study on Combining Covishield and Covaxin Doses by an Expert Panel

by Medically Speaking July 30, 2021

written by Medically Speaking

According to official sources, a subject committee of India’s central drug authority has recommended granting permission to the Christian Medical College (CMC) in Vellore to conduct a clinical trial of mixing two Covid-19 vaccines — Covaxin and Covishield. This will be India’s first mix and match study of the Covid-19 vaccines. There have been murmurs that mixing two different Covid-19 vaccines is more efficient in protection against coronavirus that is continuing to mutate and evolve.

“The aim of the study is to assess whether a person can be given two different vaccine shots — one each of Covishield and Covaxin — to complete the inoculation course,” the source said.

The mixing and matching of Covid-19 vaccines is a method of immunisation that involves using two doses of the shot from different manufacturers. Experts are of the view that using two different vaccines could trigger a better immune response and offer better protection against Coronavirus.

Application by Biological E Discussed

The expert group also discussed the application by Biological E for conducting Phase 2/3 clinical trial of its COVID-19 vaccine in the paediatric population aged 5 to 17 years, along with the safety and immunogenicity data (after dose 1) from the ongoing phase 2/3 clinical trial on adults.

“After deliberation, the committee recommended that the safety and immunogenicity data from phase 2 part of the phase 2/3 clinical trial on adults should be submitted to the CDSCO (Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation),” the source said.

July 30, 2021 0 comment

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Covishield trial demonstrates breakthrough impact

by Medically Speaking July 29, 2021

written by Medically Speaking

The interim results of a study of 1.59 million Indian armed forces healthcare and frontline personnel — one of the world’s largest investigations — revealed a 93 percent reduction in breakthrough infections after vaccination with Covishield.

The major vaccine used in India’s mass vaccination programme against SARS-CoV-2, the Covid-19 virus, is Covishield, a made-in-India variation of Oxford-AZD-1222 AstraZeneca’s formulation.

The results of the study (‘Covishield (AZD1222) Vaccine effectiveness among healthcare and frontline Workers of Indian Armed Forces: Interim results of VIN-WIN cohort study’), published in a special issue of the peer-reviewed Medical Journal Armed Forces India on Tuesday, underline the strong benefits of vaccination against breakthrough infections and deaths, and reiterate the message ‘Get Vaccinated, Stay Safe’, the researchers said.

“This is the largest study from India evaluating Covid vaccine effectiveness so far,” the researchers have said. Air Cmde Subramanian Shankar, corresponding author of the study, told The Indian Express: “Other studies have a sample size under 1 million. Hence we believe that VIN-WIN cohort is possibly one of the largest studies worldwide on vaccine effectiveness, if not the largest.”

Study and findings

Healthcare workers and frontline workers of the armed forces were among the first to get their jabs after India started vaccinating on January 16 this year. The study presents an interim analysis of vaccine effectiveness estimates of 1.59 million recipients until May 30.

The study used anonymised data from the existing Armed Forces Health Surveillance system which had been enhanced for monitoring Covid-19. The system had data for daily vaccinations with first and second doses, dates of testing positive for Covid-19, and Covid-related deaths. As the shift occurred from unvaccinated to partially vaccinated and then fully vaccinated, the numbers in each group changed daily. Since each individual stayed in the three groups (UV, PV, and FV) for varying lengths of time, the population at risk was measured in person days (100 person-days could be either one person for 100 days or 10 persons for 10 days each).

The crude rates were calculated by dividing infections/deaths by the population at risk, and corrections were made for the force of the pandemic’s second wave in April-May 2021, which was 600-1,000 times higher than in January, Air Cmde Shankar said.

Other studies

A study from Scotland published in The Lancet in April this year analysed a cohort of 1.33 million people who were vaccinated between December and February to gauge the “real-world” effectiveness of first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines against hospital admissions. The results showed a vaccine effect of 91 per cent for Pfizer-BioNTech and 88 per cent for Oxford-AZ.

The study concluded that the “mass roll-out of the first doses of the…vaccines was associated with substantial reductions in the risk of hospital admission due to Covid-19”.

The VIN-WIN study mentions results of other Covishield vaccine effectiveness studies as well.

Earlier this month the Indian Council of Medical Research reported the findings of a study done by the police department of Tamil Nadu, ICMR-National Institute of Epidemiology, and Christian Medical College, Vellore, that showed 82 per cent effectiveness on personnel who had received a single dose, and 95 per cent on those administered both jabs.

In Maharashtra, a study across 20 government Covid centres under the director of medical education and research showed that 87.5 per cent of those hospitalised were not vaccinated.

Challenges and limitations

The VIN-WIN study was carried out at a time when the country was reeling from the second wave of the pandemic. “The study cohort, belonging to the tri services, was spread across the nation. Apart from constraints of terrain and location, data had to be collated at a central facility and updated on a daily basis. This required creating a novel surveillance system,” Air Cmde Shankar said.

“A conventional cohort study incurs significant cost. So the Armed Forces Medical Services team decided to innovatively use results of the natural experiment that was created with 1.59 million individuals moved from unvaccinated to partially to fully vaccinated groups. By tracking them in detail on a daily basis, researchers could use the individuals as their own ‘internal comparison’,” he said. “Researchers had to also take into account the changing dynamics of disease transmission in the form of the pandemic’s second wave.”

Biggest takeaway

Surg Vice Admiral Rajat Datta, Director General, Armed Forces Medical Services, and co-author of the study, said in a statement: “The study sends a clear message of vaccine efficacy… It would be an important step to help overcome vaccine hesitancy backed by scientific evidence.”

Air Cmde Shankar said the team would now follow this cohort over time to answer other questions; “one of the important ones would be to determine the ideal time for a third/booster dose”.

July 29, 2021 0 comment

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Only marginal difference in purchase price of Covishield and Covaxin for Centre: MoS Health

by Medically Speaking Team July 26, 2021

written by Medically Speaking Team

The Centre is purchasing Covishield and Covaxin doses at the rate of Rs 205 and Rs 215 per dose, respectively, and there is only a marginal difference in the purchase price of the two vaccines for the government, the Lok Sabha was informed recently. In a written reply, Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar also said that the government is not facing any difficulty in procuring and arranging vaccines for states and Union territories (UTs).

In fact, the Government of India has been supplying vaccines free of cost to the states/UTs for administration to prioritised beneficiaries as recommended by the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 (NEGVAC).

“Advance visibility of these allocations, that is, the total doses of vaccine that would be available to a state and UT, is provided to them 15 days in advance, so as to enable them to plan for acceleration of vaccination coverage while being cognizant of the available vaccines,” the minister said.

The Government of India allocates vaccines to states/UTs based on criteria such as pro-rata target population, the progress of vaccination in the state and UT and vaccine wastage.

“According to the latest supply order, the Government of India is purchasing Covishield (exclusive of taxes) at the rate of Rs 205 per dose and Covaxin at the rate of Rs 215 per dose. There is only a marginal difference in the purchase price of the two vaccines for the Government of India,” Pawar said in the written reply.

Till now, around Rs 8,071.09 crore have been spent on the purchase of COVID-19 vaccines. The price of vaccine for procurement by the Government of India is negotiated by NEGVAC and its subgroups involving detailed deliberations with the vaccine manufacturers, the minister told the House in response to a separate question.

She further elaborated on the initiatives taken by the Union government to help Indian vaccine manufacturers who are in the process of developing the COVID-19 vaccine which are in advanced stage of the trial.

July 26, 2021 0 comment

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Coronavirus in India: Delhi 66 new Covid-19 cases and two fatalities, with 0.09 percent positivity rate

by Medically Speaking July 25, 2021

written by Medically Speaking

Coronavirus Third Wave in India, Coronavirus Statistics in India, Coronavirus News in India: Despite the fact that the worst of the second wave of coronavirus has passed, India has been reporting new cases in the 30,000 to 40,000 range for the past few weeks, with 39,472 new cases reported in the last 24 hours as of 8 a.m. on Sunday.This is concerning because it indicates that the epidemic is still raging, despite the fact that the vaccine campaign is gaining traction across the country. Coronavirus infections have started to rise again in Maharashtra, Kerala, and a few regions in the Northeast. It also raises the risk of a third wave, which could lead to additional virus mutation, for which the scientists may not have developed a cure as yet. Moreover, there is no consistency yet in the number of recoveries being more than the number of new cases.

Meanwhile, over 43.31 crore vaccine doses have been administered so far, with over 51.18 lakh doses being administered on Saturday itself. The vaccination drive has been continuing in a rapid manner ever since it was relaunched on June 21, before which vaccine shortages and difficulties in procurement of doses were plaguing many states. However, once again, reports have started emerging of shortage in vaccine supply, as a state health official of West Bengal said that it was receiving a “meagre” supply of doses which could impact the inoculation drive in the state.

July 25, 2021 0 comment

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Private hospitals are scrambling to place vaccination orders with a 24-hour deadline

by Medically Speaking July 16, 2021

written by Medically Speaking

Private hospitals raced on Thursday to submit vaccination orders since the Centre only allowed them a 24-hour window (Wednesday to Thursday) to place the order and pay for it. According to the Private Institutions and Nursing Homes Association, private hospitals may only make orders for three lakh pills till Wednesday evening (PHANA)

The constant flip-flap in vaccine procurement procedures has led private hospitals to lose interest. PHANA Precident Dr.Prasanna HM said hospitals have been made to place incidens thrice so far, first with the state government, then with the Karnataka Private Medical Established portal(10 lakh doses incidents raised), and then Co-WIN portal which did not work until Monday.
“On Wednesday there were a communication from the immunization deputy director that by Thursday 2:00pm all vaccine incidents have to be raised and paid for. How many can do that within 25 hours? People have lost interest. We have requested for an extension,” he said. National Health Mission Director Dr. Arundhati Chandrasekhar did not respond to DH’s queries.

Meanwhile, Bharat Biotech has apparently sent feelers to city hospitals to buy vaccines directly. Three hospitals have already bought vaccine doses according to Prasanna. “I do not want to name these three hospitals. But the purchase happened after june21, and the payment happened within a day,” he said.

July 16, 2021 0 comment

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