Big Decrease In COVID-19 Antibodies Within 4 Months Of Vaccination In India: Study

Amid the steady rise in vaccination pace, a total of 614 fully vaccinated health workers in India found a 'significant reduction in their COVID-19 fighting antibodies within four months of the first shot. 

The director of a state-run institute that did the study has said that waning antibodies do not mean that immunized people lose their ability to counter the disease, as the body’s memory cells may still kick in to offer substantial protection.

Sanghamitra Pati, Regional Medical Research Centre, Bhubaneswar, told Reuters, “After six months, we should be able to tell you more clearly whether and when a booster would be needed. And we would urge similar studies in different areas for pan-India data.”

British researchers said last month that protection offered by two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech and the AstraZeneca vaccines begins to fade within six months. The Indian study, published in the Research Square pre-print platform but yet to be peer-reviewed, is one of the first such done in the country involving its main two vaccines – Covishield, a licensed version of the AstraZeneca shot, and domestically developed Covaxin.

Health officials say though they are studying the evolving science on booster doses, the priority is to fully immunize India’s 944 million adults. More than 60 per cent of them have received at least one dose and 19 per cent the required two doses.

COVID-19, cases, and deaths in India have come down sharply since a peak of more than 400,000 infections in early May. India has reported 33.29 million cases in total and 443,213 deaths.

Meanwhile, with the administration of 64,51,423 COVID-19 vaccine doses in the last 24 hours, the vaccination coverage surpassed the cumulative figure of 76.57 Cr (76,57,17,137) according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

"This has been achieved through 77,22,914 sessions. The recovery of 38,303 patients in the last 24 hours has increased the cumulative tally of recovered patients (since the beginning of the pandemic) to 3,25,60,474," informed the ministry. 

A total of 30,570 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours. The Active Caseload is presently 3,42,923. 

(With Reuters input)