India’s Covishield Vaccine Works Against UK COVID-19 Strain

The UK was one of the first few countries to roll out a COVID-19 vaccination program. However, the happiness was short-lived with the appearance of the B.1.1.7, the new strain of the COVID-19 virus.

Many people are worried that the new rolled-out vaccine might not be able to protect from this new strain.

However, Oxford University and AstraZeneca which authorized Serum Institute in India to manufacture Covishield, have announced that their vaccine ChAdOx1 works even against this advanced variant.

According to Oxford-AstraZeneca, with the new SARS-CoV-2 variant, the vaccine delivers similar levels of protection.

In a statement, Professor Andrew Pollard who is the Chief Investigator of the vaccine trial at Oxford said that the data from the ChAdOx1 vaccine’s trials indicated that the vaccine could protect the recipients from not only the original pandemic virus but also the new variant B.1.1.7.

The findings could be found in a preprint paper. However, they have not been peer-reviewed yet. There is also a detailed analysis that shows how one dose of the vaccine can reduce the viral load and the duration of the shedding, resulting in reduced transmission of the virus.

Researchers have stated that they are testing to see how the vaccine works against the Brazillian and South African variants with the dangerous E484K mutation that isn’t in the B.1.1.7.

The mutation changes the shape of the virus’ spike proteins, helping it escape the immune response generated by the newer vaccines.

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