By Jatindra Dash and Krishna N. Das
BHUBANESWAR, India, Sept 14 (Reuters) - A study https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-888762/v1
of 614 fully vaccinated health workers in India found a
"significant" drop in their COVID-fighting antibodies within
four months of the first shot.
The findings could help the Indian government decide whether
to provide booster doses as some Western countries
reuters.com/world/uk/uk-pm-johnson-set-out-covid-19-booster-stra
tegy-under-winter-plan-2021-09-13 have done.
Waning antibodies do not necessarily mean that immunised
people lose their ability to counter the disease, as the body's
memory cells may still kick in to offer substantial protection,
said the director of a state-run institute that did the study.
"After six months, we should be able to tell you more
clearly whether and when a booster would be needed," Sanghamitra
Pati of the Regional Medical Research Centre, based in the
eastern city of Bhubaneswar, told Reuters on Tuesday.
"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 https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/covid-jab-protection-wanes-within-six-months-uk-researchers-2021-08-25.
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 immunise
India's 944 million adults. More than 60% of them have received
at least one dose and 19% the required two doses.
COVID 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.
(Reporting by Jatindra Dash in Bhubaneswar and Krishna N. Das
in New Delhi; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)