The COVID-19 vaccines, Covishield and Covaxin, work against the coronavirus variants Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta, while tests to determine the effectiveness against the Delta Plus variant are underway, stated the government on Friday.

At a press conference, ICMR Director General Dr Balram Bhargava said that the reduction of neutralization capacity of vaccine with different variants, based on global literature, indicates that Covaxin does not change with the Alpha variant and remains the same as it is with the original strain. He added that Covishield reduces slightly with Alpha variant, by about 2.5-fold. For the Delta variant, while Covaxin has been found to be effective, the antibody response is slightly reduced to three-fold reduction, while Covishield shows a two-fold reduction. In case of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, there is a seven-fold reduction… (Firstpost – PTI, June 25, 2021)