Oxford vaccine produced antibodies in 97pc recipients, Bangladesh study shows

Published: May 13, 2021 10:13:15 | Updated: May 13, 2021 19:53:15

A real-world study in Bangladesh has shown that the Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccine against the coronavirus has produced antibodies in 97 per cent of the recipients.

Experts, however, still emphasise continuing practices like physical distancing and wearing facemasks as there is no confirmed data on how long the antibodies will last and provide protection against COVID-19, reports bdnews24.com.

The government’s Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research or IEDCR published the results of the study on Wednesday, saying that 92 per cent of the recipients produced antibodies a month after being injected with the vaccine.

The number of recipients with antibodies rose to 97 per cent two months after the jabs, the study showed.

Participants of the study who were infected with the coronavirus developed four times as much antibodies than the others.

Bangladesh launched the mass vaccination drive on Feb 7 with doses manufactured by the Serum Institute of India.

The government has administered more than 9.47 million doses so far, including nearly over 3.65 million who got both shots.

The government’s disease control agency is conducting the study on 6,300 recipients jointly with the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh or icddr,b. It will continue for two years.

The results published on Wednesday are from the analysis of data from a group of 120 participants.

Age and underlying health conditions did not affect their immunisation after vaccination, according to the study.