A single dose of COVID vaccine provides sufficient protection in those previously infected with COVID-19, finds a study conducted by AIG Hospital, Hyderabad.

The study has also found that COVID vaccines elicited a higher neutralising antibody response, and higher memory cell response in COVID recovered people.

According to Dr D Nageshwar Reddy, Chairman, AIG Hospitals, and one of the co-authors of the study, it was designed to assess the immunological memory response in all those patients.

The study was conducted on 280 healthcare workers who were vaccinated between 16 January and 5 February.

Side effects for all the participants were noted between the doses, and blood samples were tested for neutralising antibodies and memory cells.

Of these, 131 participants were previously infected with COVID with mild to moderate disease, and 50 required hospital admission.

All 131 were noted to have an overall seropositivity of 46.78, and the rest 149 were seronegative prior to the first vaccination dose.

A single dose of the vaccine was found to elicit a much higher memory T cell and B cell responses in those previously infected by COVID, than those who weren't.

Dr D Nageshwar Reddy, Chairman, AIG Hospitals, and one of the co-authors of the study, in a press release, said,

"This will significantly help at a time when there’s a shortage of vaccine in the country and more people can be covered using the saved doses," he added.

The study authors hope that these findings would help optimise vaccine usage at a time of shortage, and that such a strategy may help cover a larger population when it comes to public immunisation.

"At this point, all our strategies should be directed at the widespread distribution of available vaccines and to include the maximum number of people at least with a single dose,” said Dr Reddy.