Gulf News

SINGLE DOSE SUFFICIENT FOR THOSE ALREADY INFECTED: STUDY

- —IANS

A single dose of vaccine is sufficient for those already infected by Covid-19, revealed a study by Hyderabad’s AIG Hospitals.

The hospital said it conducted a study on 260 healthcare workers who got vaccinated between January 16 and February 5 to assess their immunologi­cal memory response. All patients were given the Covishield vaccine.

Two significan­t observatio­ns came out of the study, which has been published in the Internatio­nal Journal of Infectious Diseases, a peer-reviewed journal.

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

It also revealed that Memory T-cell responses elicited by a single dose of were significan­tly higher in the previously infected group compared with those who had no prior infection.

It was concluded that higher memory T and B-cell responses in addition to higher 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.

“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 vaccine in the country and more people can be covered using the saved doses,” said Dr D Nageshwar Reddy, chairman, AIG Hospitals, and a co-author in the study.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Arab Emirates