'No need for a second dose', Indian study explains

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Hyderabad: A single dose of COVID-19 vaccine would be sufficient for those who have been previously infected with the virus, a new study has found.

AIG Hospitals, Hyderabad recently published a study conducted on 260 healthcare workers who got vaccinated between January 16 and February 5 in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases. All patients were administered Covisheild vaccine.

The study showed that the previously infected showed a greater antibody response to a single dose of vaccine compared with those who had no prior infection.

It concluded that the antibody response with a single dose of vaccine given at 3-6 months after recovery from COVID-19 may be considered at par with two doses of vaccine for individuals already infected with COVID-19.

“The results show that people who got infected with COVID-19 need not take two doses of vaccine yet with a single dose can develop robust antibody and memory cell response at par with two-doses for those who didn’t get the infection. This will significantly help at a time when there’s a shortage of vaccines in the country and more people can be covered using the saved doses,” said Dr D Nageshwar Reddy, Chairman, AIG Hospitals and one of the co-authors.

“Once we attain the requisite number of people vaccinated for achieving herd immunity, these patients who got infected and received only one dose can take the second dose of the vaccine. 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,” Dr Reddy added.

The researchers said that there is a need to modify vaccination strategy so that a larger set of the population can be covered in the shortest duration.