New Delhi, Dec 29: Chief Scientific Advisor to the Government of India Prof K Vijay Raghvan on Tuesday said the Indian vaccine against Novel Coronavirus is equally effective to the new mutant strains found in the United Kingdom and South Africa and so far, no evidence has been found against the current vaccines, proving that they will fail to protect against these COVID-19 variants.
Addressing the weekly press conference, Prof Raghvan said that most of the vaccine hits the protein layer on the virus and the new mutant has a change in the spike protein.
‘The vaccine strengthens our immunity system, leading to the formation of antibodies on a large scale in our bodies. These antibodies are sufficient to work against new variants,’ he added.
Raghavan said that when the virus spreads throughout the world, it changes its mutation and sometimes, the changed mutation occurs in such a way that leads to the severity of its spread and infection capacity.
In the new variant, 17 changes have been found in the same spike protein, of which eight are most important and among the new changes, one is such that it tightens its grip over the grip of the spike protein, leading to fast mutation and spread.
The second most important change is that the virus tends to enter the human tissue and this is the matter of concern as of now, he said, adding that the new British COVID-19 mutant is dangerous and has led to positivity rates there.
