Separate studies conducted by the All India Institute Of Medical Science (AIIMS) and the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) have found that Covishield and Covaxin, the coronavirus vaccines currently administered in India are ineffective against the Delta variant of Covid. It should be noted that the Delta variant is basically the Covid variant initially detected in India, and it is considered more transmissible than the Alpha variant, detected in Kent, United Kingdom.
Are vaccines ineffective against Covid?
The study conducted by AIIMS and NCDC suggested that coronavirus could infect people even if they have received both doses of Covaxin or Covishield. However, it should be noted that neither study has been peer-reviewed as yet.
The AIIMS-IGIB (Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology) was based on the data collected from 63 symptomatic patients who reported to the hospital's emergency ward complaining of severe fever that persist for more than five days. Interestingly, 53 people in this list had received at least one dose of Covaxin, while the remaining 10 people had received one dose of the Covishield vaccine. Adding up to the worries, researchers noted that 36 patients in this list had already received two shots of one of these vaccines.
In the NCDC-IGIB study, researchers found that 27 patients were infected with coronavirus even after they received the Covishield vaccine. The research report also hinted at the alpha variant of Covid is also turning resistant against vaccines, but not as significant as the version first reported from India.
The new study report contradicts the findings of another study conducted by the National Institute of Virology in Pune, the ICMR, and Covaxin manufacturers Bharat Biotech. This study report has revealed that Covaxin shots offer protection against both the Delta and beta (The Covid variant initially detected in South Africa) variants of coronavirus.
