Sinopharm’s jab induces weaker antibody responses to Delta: Study, Latest World News - The New Paper
World

Sinopharm’s jab induces weaker antibody responses to Delta: Study

This article is more than 12 months old

BEIJING : Sinopharm's Covid-19 vaccine elicited weaker antibody responses against the Delta variant, based on the first published study of its effect against the more contagious version.

Antibody levels in people receiving Sinopharm's BBIBP-CorV vaccine had a 1.38-fold reduction to the Delta variant versus an older version of the coronavirus first identified in Wuhan, a lab study based on samples from people in Sri Lanka showed.

The study was conducted by scientists from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura as well as Colombo Municipal Council in Sri Lanka, and the University of Oxford in Britain.

The vaccine from Sinopharm, also showed a more pronounced 10-fold decrease in antibody levels to the Beta variant, first found in South Africa, the study, published on Monday ahead of peer review, showed.

Researchers found no significant difference in levels of antibodies to the two variants from blood serum of vaccinated people compared with those who had been naturally infected. This suggested that Sinopharm's vaccine may be able to induce antibody-based responses against the two variants similar to the levels seen following natural infection.

The vaccine is one of the most widely used in China, and Sinopharm has agreed to provide up to 170 million doses to the global vaccine sharing scheme Covax through to the middle of next year. - REUTERS

WORLD