Efficacy of Covishield for Omicron reduces 3-5 months after 2nd jab: Lancet study

Amid heated debates on whether people should get booster shots of vaccine, in the face of a fresh outbreak of Omicron variant of the Covid-19 virus, a new Lancet study weighs in favour of additional jabs.

The study was conducted on the people who got Covishield, developed by Astrazeneca and manufactured by Serum Institute of India.

The latest study, which was conducted in Brazil and Scotland, reportedly showed that the effectiveness of the vaccine reduced 18-19 weeks after the second shot of Astrazeneca vaccine.

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Reduced effectiveness can be read as higher chances of need for hospitalisation and even deaths. The study went on to conclude that those who took the Covishield vaccine may need to consider booster shots.

The study gains significance especially in the context of India as almost 89% of the administered vaccine doses in the country is Covishield.