The researchers took blood from people who were vaccinated with either of the two shots for the study and found that, for B.1.617, an almost four-fold reduction was recorded in the amount of neutralizing antibodies proteins the immune system creates to stop pathogens from invading cells.
And for B.1.618, the reduction was around three-fold. However, the findings can only be considered preliminary as this kind of lab investigation cannot predict what the real world efficacy might look like.
India records over 25 million COVID-19 cases
In India, over 263,000 COVID-19 cases and 4,300 COVID-19 related deaths were recorded on Tuesday, making it the day with the highest number of death since the beginning for the pandemic in this nation.
In the past month alone, the number of infections in India has tripled, and the number of deaths has increased six-fold, which has pushed the total number of cases in this country to more than 25.23 million, ranking second globally, behind the US.
To address the situation, on Tuesday, India has approved the distribution of 2-DG, a drug to treat COVID-19 that has the potential to help patients recover and reduce dependence on supplemental oxygen. The first batch of 10,000 doses of 2-DG will be sold in the market next week, which is expected to help the country partially reduce the severity of the disease.
