Both Covaxin and Covishield — the two vaccines against Covid in use in India — are effective against the UK variant, which is one of the two prevailing mutations found in the country, senior officials said. Officials said so far, and there has been no Indian variant as only a double mutation has been found in Maharashtra. It requires multiple mutations for a new variant to be recognised as such and to make a discernible impact.
So far, three “imported variants” — UK, South Africa, and Brazilian — have been detected in India. During genome sequencing of samples, the total number of cases with these variants of the Covid-19 virus adds up to 948 till Monday evening.
The presence of UK and South African variants is more in samples sequences in India, whereas very few samples have tested positive for the Brazilian variant.
“Covaxin is effective against both UK and Brazilian variant, Covishield is effective against the UK variant, but we are awaiting its efficacy data against Brazilian strain. The South African variant could not be cultured so far,” an official told TOI. Even as there have been concerns about double mutations being the cause of spread in Maharashtra and whether it can be an Indian strain, officials said data so far does not support such a conclusion.
ICMR researchers continue to study if the double mutations are causing faster transmission of the infection, an official said.
“The virus may continue to mutate and generate new variants. It is a normal process, but it takes multiple mutations to bring forth a new variant. While variants have a role in being more infectious, the remedy or measures to combat it remain the same,” the official said.
