ICMR to study effectiveness of Covishield, Covaxin vaccines against severe form of COVID-19

New Delhi: The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) will commence a study to examine the effectiveness of AstraZeneca's Covishield and Bharat Biotech's Covaxin from next week. 

This is the first of its kind study since the launch of these vaccines in the country, the survey will examine the effectiveness in preventing progression of COVID-19 into a severe form, as per a report by PTI.

According to Dr Tarun Bhatnagar, a senior scientist at ICMR's National Institute of Epidemiology (NIE) in Chennai nearly 4,000 people above the age of 45 years who have taken either one or both doses of any of these two vaccines will be reviewed. 

"As a part of the study we will take people who are COVID-19 positive and hospitalised and compare their vaccination status with those who have tested COVID negative. The aim is to assess how effective vaccination is in preventing progression of the disease into a severe form," Bhatnagar told PTI.

The cumulative vaccine doses administered in the country has crossed 20 crore so far.

The government has also been stressing on the need to wear a mask and adherence to other COVID protocols.

India, so far, has approved the use of three vaccines against COVID-19. These include Pune-based Serum Institute's Covishield and Bharat Biotech's Covaxin.

Russia's Sputnik V is the third vaccine to get approval from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) for Emergency Use Authorisation and has been used in a few private hospitals so far.