Covaxin, Covishield vaccines effective against Delta variant of COVID-19: Health Ministry

The Union Health Ministry informed on Tuesday that both Indian vaccines – Covishield and Covaxin - are effective against the Delta variant of Coronavirus. To what extent these vaccines are effective will be shared shortly, said Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan.

What impact different vaccines have in terms of anti-body titers - that information is available, which we would be sharing very shortly with you," Bhushan said on the impact of COVID-19 vaccines against Delta Plus.

"However, broadly speaking, both the Indian vaccines which we are currently using in Covid vaccination programme - we are using three but Sputnik V came quite later - so Covishield and Covaxin both are effective against Delta variant. But to what extent and what's the proportion of antibody titers that they produce, that we would share with you shortly," the union secretary added.

He also informed that 22 cases of the Delta Plus variant have been found in the country, so far. Sixteen of the total cases have been found in Ratnagiri and Jalgaon (Maharashtra) and some cases in Kerala and Madhya Pradesh. Apart from India, Delta Plus has been found in 9 nations - the US, UK, Portugal, Switzerland, Japan, Poland, Nepal, China and Russia. In India, it is not a variant of concern but a variant of interest said Bhushan

COVID Delta variant

Delta variant of COVID-19 is highly infectious which has further mutated to form the 'Delta plus' or 'AY.1' variant, in India. As per the initial data, Delta plus variant shows signs of resistance towards monoclonal antibodies cocktail treatments. However, most experts and scientists believe the prevalence of this variant is still slow in India but has higher mortality if compared to the Delta variant. A World Health Organization (WHO) epidemiologist on Monday said that the COVID-19 vaccines are showing signs of reduced efficacy against the Delta variant of the coronavirus. The strain has been circulating in Europe since March.

Earlier Dr VK Paul, Member (Health) of the Niti Aayog, had said, "Delta variant is a variant of the investigation. We are still trying to understand its impact on transmissibility and the severity of diseases.