India is also trying hard to prepare its indigenous vaccine. Read on to know more about the progress of their production and their efficacy.
The pandemic has been going on for quite a long time and the only respite to the terrible situation is the arrival of a vaccine. As a result, a lot of countries are putting in their blood, sweat, and tears to produce the best and the most effective Covid-19 vaccine in the shortest period with the best budget price so that everyone can be vaccinated as soon as possible.
For those who don't know, Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that cause illnesses such as the common cold, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), and the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). COVID-19 is caused by a virus that's closely related to the one that causes SARS. For this reason, scientists named the new virus SARS-CoV-2. The vaccine’s underproduction can aim to hamper the virus's ability to attach itself to the human cells and thus prevent infection.
It's high time that we combat this pandemic because let's face it, everyone has reached their saturation point of living under the constant fear of getting infected, infecting someone else, or simply dying. We need the world economy to get back on track as soon as possible so that everything that was destroyed because of this pandemic could return to normalcy. People have lost their jobs, their loved ones, their mental peace, and a whole lot of precious things that can never be returned. The arrival of a vaccine that is indigenous can prove really helpful for India as an economy and as a country that supports the second largest population in the whole world.
A lot of vaccines across the world are under various phases of testing. Some of them are in the inception phase while some have crossed the eligibility test and are ready for medical testing. The basic eligibility criteria for a vaccine to be approved for further trials are as follows:
An effective COVID-19 vaccine will need to provide people with long-term infection protection (minimum 6 months)
An ideal COVID-19 vaccine would work well for all age groups equally.
An effective vaccine is considered one that will reduce the number of infections in vaccine recipients by half. That is, it must be at least 50% effective in most critical cases while 70% is desirable.
It must be widely and easily available for all and can be produced in bulk if required. Also, it should be affordable to all of the population.
It must be easy to store and transport. Higher storage temperatures and higher thermal stability would increase the vaccine distribution and availability and are hence preferred.
An ideal vaccine should not inflict any major side effects on the person being administered.
The vaccines are being administered to 30,000- 40,000 subjects for clearing the Phase III clinical trials. When the vaccination starts, high-risk groups including first responders, health care personnel, and the elderly, and those with preexisting medical conditions will be prioritized.
Now coming to some of the leading Coronavirus vaccines of India, although various other countries have already cleared their clinical trials, Indian companies are still racing to make the best indigenous vaccine. The indigenous vaccine would help uplift our economy and will also make it more economical and easier to administer to the masses. The top few of them and their details are as follows:-
Covaxin: Covaxin is India's first indigenous vaccine candidate. It is being developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). The vaccine makes use of inactive samples of the virus to invoke the production of antibodies for the same in the candidate's body. Phase I and phase II have been successfully concluded recently. For the phase III human clinical trials, Dr. M V Padma Srivastava, the chief of Neurosciences Centre at the premier institute, and three other volunteers received the first dose. The trials would commence in AIIMS, New Delhi from 26 November. It is most likely to be available for administration from February 2021.
ZyCoV-D: Zydus Cadila is an Ahmedabad-based pharma giant. It announced its vaccine ZyCov-D's Phase I trials in July and completed its phase II trials by August. 2 types of vaccines are under testing by the company. One makes use of molecular DNA to conjure an immune response, while the other uses a live measles viral strain to provide protection from the Coronavirus. We might expect this vaccine to be ready by March 2021.
Covishield: Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) has collaborated with Oxford University and pharmaceutical company Astra Zeneca for making the Covid-19 vaccine, 'Covishield', and is conducting trials in India. The vaccine has shown promising results in the past and is one of the leading vaccines in terms of trials.
Till we don't get access to the vaccine, we need to uphold all the safety measures and necessary precautions to make sure we curb the virus from spreading further.
The vaccines across the world like Pfizer and Russia's Sputnik-V have achieved more than 95% efficacy. The WHO and FDI have issued various guidelines for all the vaccine manufacturers across the world. Let's keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best. Once the vaccine is in place, we can look forward to the normalcy of life by the 3rd quarter of 2021.
Written By - Saakshi Priyadarshini
Edited By - Sravanthi Cheerladinne
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