ICMR To Conduct Study On Effectiveness Of Covishield And Covaxin In Preventing Severe Disease: Report

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is set to study the effectiveness of the two COVID-19 vaccines currently being used in India.

The apex medical research body will start the study of the Serum Institute of India's Covishield and Bharat Biotech's indigenous Covaxin next week to examine these vaccines effectiveness against Covid-19.

Around 3,000-5,000 people in the 45 years and above age group will be examined by the ICMR as part of the study. Around 80 per cent of these people will comprise of those who have taken the Covishield shot while the rest will be those administered Covaxin.

NIE's Tarun Bhatnagar was quoted in the Economic Times report as saying that the main objective of the study is to find out whether the vaccine prevents severe disease.

"We will compare people who tested negative with people who tested positive with sub-groups to look for those who were symptomatic and those hospitalised or with severe disease," Bhatnagar said.

Further, the effects of one dose of Covishield as against the two-shots administered will also be compared in the study.