Double mutant not found in Punjab: CSIR

Punjab Science & Technology

In an encouraging development for the Covid vaccine plan, scientists at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) have found that the Serum Institute’s Covishield works against the double mutant, believed to be a potential factor behind the sudden surge.
The scientists said the double mutant had been detected in some samples from Maharashtra, but was not a common cause for infection. “Punjab and Kerala don’t have it. Both these states have had major outbreaks recently,” said Anurag Agrawal, Director, CSIR-Institute of Genomic and Integrative Biology, New Delhi.
“Many doctors, who have received the Covid shots, but have had breakthrough infections have some kind of an escape variant and yet have a mild disease. This is a good sign for the quality of our vaccination programme,” Agarwal said.
Earlier this week, the ICMR also announced that Covaxin worked against the double mutant.