Effectiveness of BBV152 vaccine and ChAdOx1-S vaccine in preventing severe disease among vaccinated patients admitted to a designated COVID-19 hospital in India.

Purpose: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a highly formidable disease. Globally, multiple vaccines have been developed to prevent and manage this disease. However, the periodic mutations of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 variants cast doubt on the effectiveness of commonly used vaccines in mitigating severe disease in the Indian population. This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of the BBV152 vaccine and ChAdOx1-S vaccine in preventing severe forms of the disease.

Materials and methods: This retrospective study, based on hospital records, was conducted on 204 vaccinated COVID-19 patients using a consecutive sampling approach. Data on their vaccination status, comorbidities, and high-resolution computed tomography lung reports' computed tomography severity scores were extracted from their medical records. Fisher's exact test and binomial logistic regression analysis were employed to assess the independent associations of various factors with the dependent variables.

Results: Of the 204 records, 57.9% represented males, with a mean age of 61.5±9.8 years. Both vaccines demonstrated effective protection against severe illness (90.2%), with BBV152 offering slightly better protection compared to ChAdOx1-S. Male gender, partial vaccination, comorbid conditions, and the type of vaccine were identified as independent predictors of severe lung involvement.

Conclusion: This study indicates that both vaccines were highly effective (90%) in preventing severe forms of the disease in fully vaccinated individuals. When comparing the two vaccines, BBV152 was slightly more effective than ChAdOx1-S in preventing severe COVID-19.