How efficient is Covaxin against Covid-19 & its different variants?

Ever since the pandemic, India has slowly ranked up to the second spot of most COVID-affected countries globally. In January 2021, when the COVID vaccination drive was announced in India, only two vaccines were initially cleared for vaccinating the masses by the drug regulators in India. The two vaccines were Covishield and Covaxin.

Covaxin, developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the National Institute of Virology (NIV), is the first indigenously developed COVID vaccine in India. The Covaxin COVID-19 vaccine is created using a Whole-Virion Inactivated Viro Cell-derived platform. This inactivated vaccine contains dead viruses not capable of infecting people but still able to instruct your immune system to defend itself against a COVID infection.

With different variants of COVID being introduced regularly, how effective is Covaxin against COVID today? Let’s find out more about this vaccine and its efficacy against the various variants of COVID-19.

Covaxin Efficacy Against COVID & Its Variants

• SARS CoV 2

Originally the COVID-19 pandemic started with the SARS CoV 2 virus, which was a mutation of the existing Coronavirus strain. Bharat Biotech developed Covaxin, and the ICMR shows the efficacy of 81% in preventing a COVID-19 infection.

• Delta Variant

The Delta Variant was the cause for the second wave of COVID-19 in India in 2021. This variant was marked as a variant of concern by the WHO after first being noticed around December 2020 - January 2021. Covaxin, as per current reports, has an efficacy of 65% in preventing a COVID infection from the Delta variant of the virus.

• Omicron Variant

The Omicron variant was first discovered in 2021. As of 2022, the Omicron variant is the leading cause of the number of rising cases in India. Given that this variant of COVID is still relatively new, the vaccine efficacy data against this variant is yet to be released from any verifiable sources for Covaxin. However, being fully vaccinated is necessary to ensure that you don’t succumb to the disease and develop an advanced COVID infection.

Benefits Of Getting Vaccinated With Covaxin

• Low Interval Period

Covaxin currently has one of the lowest interval periods, with only a difference of 28 days between two doses of vaccines in the world. The low interval period makes it easier for people to get fully vaccinated as soon as possible with this vaccine. Covaxin does not fall short of other vaccines when compared in terms of efficacy, so if you want to get through with your vaccination as soon as possible. It would help if you went for Covaxin for your COVID vaccination.

• Effectively Safe For Teens

In 2022, when the government informed about the vaccination of 15-17-year-olds against COVID-19, the only vaccine allowed for vaccinating this age group was Covaxin. The drugs controller general of India also has approved Covaxin to be the only vaccine that can be administered to children over the age of 12 in emergency cases.

• No Serious Side Effects

Covaxin is one of the only COVID vaccines in India that does not have any severe side effects. The only side effects are fever, soreness around the area of vaccination, headache. These symptoms are very short-lived and go away within a day or two of vaccination. So far, as of 2022, there have been no reported cases of severe side effects in a person vaccinated using Covaxin.

Conclusion

Covaxin is the first made in India vaccine used to vaccinate many people around the country. The benefits mentioned in this article are why you should feel safe about being vaccinated with Covaxin. If you are currently in the 15-17 year age group awaiting your Covaxin vaccination, you can visit Medipulse hospital, the best tertiary care hospital in Jodhpur Rajasthan, for more information about Covaxin.