A newly published study indicates that Covaxin, a coronavirus shot the U.S. biotech Ocugen (NASDAQ:OCGN) and India’s Bharat Biotech plan to introduce in North America, generated strong six-month-long immune memory to the COVID-19 virus and its variants.
The study published in the journal Nature Microbiology was based on 72 subjects who were not previously infected with the virus but received both doses of the vaccine.
The researchers then compared their vaccine-driven responses with the immune memory of 99 individuals who recovered from mild COVID-19. Their samples were taken between October 2020 and January 2021 before the Delta surge or the emergence of any other variants of concern (VOC) in India.
Commenting on cellular immunity of vaccinated subjects, the researchers said that ~85% of individuals demonstrated SARS-CoV-2-specific multicytokine-expressing CD4+ T cells which were found to persist for at least up to 6 months post-vaccination. In addition, vaccine-induced CD8+ T cells were found in ~50% of individuals.
“These findings show that inactivated vaccine BBV152 induces robust immune memory to SARS-CoV-2 and variants of concern that persists for at least 6 months after vaccination,” the researchers concluded.
In May, Ocugen (OCGN) shares gained after the FDA lifted the clinical hold on its Phase 2/3 clinical trial for Covaxin.