Antibodies plummet within four months of Covid shot: Indian study

Bhubaneswar: A study conducted on 614 fully vaccinated health workers in India found "Significant" drops in COVID-fighting antibodies in them after four months of their first shot. The findings may help the government to decide on whether to provide booster doses, as some Western countries have done.

However, an immunised person's ability to fight off disease does not necessarily go away with waning antibodies, according to the director of a state-run institute that conducted this study.

Sanghamitra Pati of the Regional Medical Research Centre said that the body's memory cells may still kick in to offer substantial protection, as reported by Reuters on Tuesday.

He also urged to conduct similar studies in different areas for pan-India data before reaching conclusions.

Meanwhile, British researchers said last month reported that vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech and AstraZeneca begin to lose their effectiveness after six months.

The study published in the Research Square pre-print platform is one of the first such research done in the country involving its main two vaccines - Covishield, a licensed version of the AstraZeneca shot, and domestically developed Covaxin. The study is yet to be peer-reviewed.

Health officials, however, say that though they are researching booster doses, the priority now is to fully immunise India's 944 million adult population. So far, more than 60% have received at least one dose, with 19% receiving both.