Bengaluru: India started the immunity drive in the month of January. 

It began by administering health line workers and then to people of ages 45 and more. 

Now, since May 1, its young population who are 18+ are being administered. 

Presently, it is administering two vaccines – Covishield and Covaxin. 

Now, as per reports, the Public Health England (PHE) has revealed that one dose of Oxford-AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine reduces the risk of death by a resounding 80 per cent.

The report adds that accordingly, a solitary dose of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine cuts down the probability of succumbing to the virus by 80 per cent; whereas, the figure rises to 97 per cent after two doses of the same.

PHE, the executive agency of the Department of Health and Social Care in the United Kingdom, revealed that this was the first time that a study on the protection against mortality from the AstraZeneca vaccine on data from a real world setting was carried out.

When compared with unvaccinated people, the individuals who had taken a single shot of the AstraZeneca vaccine were 55 per cent protected against death. The figure stood at 44 per cent after a single dose of the Pfizer vaccine.

“Combined with the protection vaccines offer against becoming a case in the first place, this is equivalent to approximately 80% protection against mortality in individuals vaccinated with a single dose of either vaccine,” the PHE’s official statement was quoted by the Reuters, which was further quoted by Swarajya. 

Subsequently, the immunity against mortality from the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine enhanced to 69 per cent in cases where individuals had taken their second dose at least a week before they tested positive for Covid-19.

This becomes equal to an approximate 97 per cent protection when coupled with the estimated protection from contracting Covid-19 for starters.

The given study could be encouraging for India given that the Serum Institute of India is mass manufacturing Covishield, which is a licensed version of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.