Gyaneshwar Chaubey, a professor of genetics at Banaras Hindu University (BHU) on Monday sought to claim that a single vaccine dose helps develop antibodies faster among recovered COVID patients than in non-infected people.
Chaubey said that the vaccine shortage issue can be resolved if those who recovered from COVID-19 are given a single dose of vaccine.
“While only 90 per cent of non-infected people developed antibodies after three to four weeks, recovered people developed antibodies after the first dose. By giving a single vaccine dose to recovered people we can overcome vaccine shortage. We have also written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in this regard,” he was quoted as saying by ANI.
Chaubey’s suggestion comes amid reports that the Centre is planning to study the effectiveness of a single dose of vaccine to ensure people are provided at a time there is rising complaints of shortage of vaccine shots.
At present, two made-in-India vaccines — Covishield manufactured by SII and Covaxin of Bharat Biotech — are being administered to people in India under the COVID-19 immunisation programme.
The Russian Sputnik V is the third vaccine to get approval from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) for emergency use and is being used in a few private hospitals.
Currently, two doses of all three vaccines are being administered to people in the country.
Meanwhile, the chief of the Centre’s COVID-19 working group on Monday said that India is likely to begin a study on the feasibility of mixing two different vaccines in few weeks.
Dr NK Arora, who is the chairman of the COVID working group under the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI), said that the country is planning to examine if mixing vaccine doses of two different manufacturers helps boost the immune response to the virus.
