The Government of India approved Covaxin and Covishield for emergency approval and sent the vaccine candidates across India. The vaccine drive will be launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi today at 10:30 am through video conferencing.
Both the vaccine candidates got emergency approval. True Scoop News will explain some critical questions related to the vaccines:
Bharat Biotech's Covaxin:
Bharat Biotech, set up in 1996 has 15 vaccines in the market that deal with different diseases. Besides getting an emergency use approval for the indigenous Covaxin, Bharat Biotech is developing three other candidates for Covid-19. It has been developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with National Institute of Virology and Indian Council of Medical Research.
Covaxin is an inactivated vaccine that is regarded as an oldest method of vaccinating people. Inactivated vaccine means that inactivated viruses will be used to trigger immune response after the injection.
The controversy regarding Covaxin is still fresh where questions are being raised about its efficacy because Phase-3 results are still awaited. The Phase-3 trials of Covaxin are still underway and it triggered some questions related to hasty implementation but the health minister has said that the vaccine is safe to administer.
Oxford-Astra Zeneca's Covishield:
Covishield is developed by Oxford and British Swedish Pharmaceutical company, Astra Zeneca. While it is being manufactured by Serum Institute of India (SII) in the country.
While Pfizer and Moderna use a new technique of mRna that makes them delicate to handle, Covishield is a vector vaccine that is cheaper and it can be kept stable for six months on refrigerator temperature.
What the government fact sheet say?
There are several general guidelines that say the vaccination is only for the people above 18 years old. Second dose of the vaccine has to be of the same vaccine that was used for the first dose. Hence, the vaccines are not interchangeable. People with any history of bleeding or coagulation disorder shall be given vaccine with certain caution. The vaccine should be kept at 2 to 8 degree Celsius temperatures.
Who cannot get the vaccine?
People who developed allergy to the previous dose of Covid-19 vaccine, people who show immediate or delayed allergic reaction to vaccines and lactating or pregnant women cannot receive the vaccine.
Similarly, the government fact sheet mentioned all the precautions and contradictions for the Covid-19 vaccine. You can access the fact-sheet by clicking on: Government fact-sheet on Covid-19 vaccines