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Jayawardenapura Uni to test first dose recipients’ immunity

03 Jun 2021

By Pamodi Waravita   The University of Sri Jayewardenepura (USJ) is set to commence a study on those who have received only the first dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covishield vaccine in order to determine their immunity levels against the disease. The study will be carried out by the university’s Allergy, Immunology and Cell Biology Unit Director Dr. Chandima Jeewandara and his team, Dr. Jeewandara said, speaking to The Morning yesterday (2). The study comes at a time when the Government is desperately trying to procure 600,000 doses of the Covishield vaccine to administer as the second dose to those who have received the first. Meanwhile, Dr. Jeewandara also told that a study has begun on those who had received the first jab of the Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine manufactured by the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology of Russia, along with their antibody (a protective protein produced by the immune system in response to the presence of a foreign substance) and t-cell (type of white blood cell which plays a role in the body’s immune system) responses to it. “Samples were taken before people received their first dose of the Sputnik V vaccine. Samples will thereafter be taken in one month’s, three months’, and six months’ durations as well,” noted Dr. Jeewandara. Dr. Jeewandara further said that a similar study is being conducted in parallel with regard to the Sinopharm vaccine manufactured by Beijing Bio-Institute of Biological Products Company Ltd. Officials at the Ministry of Health told The Morning earlier this week that the administration of the Sputnik V vaccine could be limited to just one dose, as the Ministry’s Epidemiology Unit is currently reviewing as to whether a second dose of the Sputnik V vaccine is necessary, due to information received by them that a first dose may be sufficient to provide immunity against Covid-19. Russia’s Ministry of Health stated early this month that the first dose of the Sputnik V vaccine provides sufficient protection by itself without the need of having to administer the second dose. This month, the Gamaleya Research Institute also introduced a vaccine called “Sputnik Light”, a single-shot Covid-19 vaccine.


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