VIMSAR doctors to study seroconversion of vaccinated people

After seroconversion has occurred the antibodies can bedetected in blood tests for the disease.The team of doctors of VIMSAR, who will conduct thestudy, includes Sanjeeb Mishra, principal investigator andtutor of department of community medicine, and co-investigators from doctors various other departments ofVIMSAR.Mishra said, whenever a new vaccine is launched,Odisha gets it much later than other states of the country.However, the COVID-19 vaccine drive was launched throughoutIndia in a single day allowing for this research here.

Doctors of VeerSurendra Sai Institute of Medical Sciences and Research(VIMSAR), Burla will conduct a study on the impact of COVID-19vaccines and how it helps the creation of antibodies afterpeople were inoculated, officials said.

The study will be conducted in conjunction withscientists of Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC),Bhubaneswar. The state health research committee has alreadygiven its nod for the research which will be conducted for aperiod of 12 months, an official said.

The objective of the study is to observeseroconversion on the population, who have been vaccinated, tocalculate the numbers of people required to be vaccinated forherd immunity, so that we will be able to control thepandemic, said Dr Sanjeeb Mishra, principal investigator ofthe study.

Seroconversion is the time period during which aspecific antibody develops and becomes detectable in theblood. After seroconversion has occurred the antibodies can bedetected in blood tests for the disease.

The team of doctors of VIMSAR, who will conduct thestudy, includes Sanjeeb Mishra, principal investigator andtutor of department of community medicine, and co-investigators from doctors various other departments ofVIMSAR.

Mishra said, whenever a new vaccine is launched,Odisha gets it much later than other states of the country.

However, the COVID-19 vaccine drive was launched throughoutIndia in a single day allowing for this research here. It is aunique opportunity for us.

Bimal Panda, who is also Nodal Officer of the MRU,said, this is the first indigenous research project of the MRUof VIMSAR. We have already started making our laboratory readyfor the study, he said.

Since the emergence of COVID-19 and declaration ofPublic Health Emergency of International Concern, the entireworld has been eagerly waiting for a vaccine for itsprevention.

While two vaccines namely Covishield and Covaxin havebeen given emergency approval for restricted use in India,results from large scale trials are still awaited.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)