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A study published by UK’s Health Department has found that two doses of COVID-19 vaccines are needed to provide “strong protection” against symptomatic infection from B.1.617.2, which is the COVID variant first identified in India, and has taken over as the “dominant variant of concern”.
The study, conducted by the UK Department of Health and Social Care’s executive agency Public Health England looked at the protection provided by two COVID-19 vaccines – Oxford AstraZeneca/Covishield and the Pfizer vaccine – against the B.1.6172 and B.1.1.7, the variant first discovered in the UK.
The study found that:
The analysis had data from all age groups from 5 April and included 1,054 people who were confirmed to be infected with B.1.617.2. The data also covered those over the age of 65 since December 2020.
According to a The Indian Express report dated 20 May, B.1.617 is the most dominant variant found in over 20,000 samples tested in labs under the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium.
On 13 May, the Centre extended the interval gap between the first and second doses of the Covishield vaccine from 6-8 weeks to 12-16 weeks, citing “real-life evidence” from the UK.
The Covishield vaccines account for over 90 per cent of the inoculations conducted in India since the vaccination drive began in January. Till 23 May, 19.5 crore people were inoculated in India, out of which over 15 crore had received the first dose, according to Health Ministry figures.
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