The Government of India approved Covaxin and Covishieldfor emergency approval and sent the vaccine candidates across India. Thevaccine drive will be launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi today at 10:30am through video conferencing.
Both the vaccine candidates got emergency approval. True ScoopNews will explain some critical questions related to the vaccines:
BharatBiotech's Covaxin:
Bharat Biotech, set up in 1996 has 15 vaccines in themarket that deal with different diseases. Besides getting an emergency useapproval for the indigenous Covaxin, Bharat Biotech is developing three othercandidates for Covid-19. It has been developed by Bharat Biotech incollaboration with National Institute of Virology and Indian Council of MedicalResearch.
Covaxin is an inactivated vaccine that is regarded as anoldest method of vaccinating people. Inactivated vaccine means that inactivatedviruses will be used to trigger immune response after the injection.
The controversy regarding Covaxin is still fresh wherequestions are being raised about its efficacy because Phase-3 results are stillawaited. The Phase-3 trials of Covaxin are still underway and it triggered somequestions related to hasty implementation but the health minister has said thatthe vaccine is safe to administer.
Oxford-AstraZeneca's Covishield:
Covishield is developed by Oxford and British Swedish Pharmaceuticalcompany, Astra Zeneca. While it is being manufactured by Serum Institute ofIndia (SII) in the country.
While Pfizer and Moderna use a new technique of mRna thatmakes them delicate to handle, Covishield is a vector vaccine that is cheaperand it can be kept stable for six months on refrigerator temperature.
Whatthe government fact sheet say?
There are several general guidelines that say thevaccination is only for the people above 18 years old. Second dose of thevaccine 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 orcoagulation disorder shall be given vaccine with certain caution. The vaccineshould be kept at 2 to 8 degree Celsius temperatures.
Whocannot get the vaccine?
People who developed allergy to the previous dose ofCovid-19 vaccine, people who show immediate or delayed allergic reaction to vaccinesand lactating or pregnant women cannot receive the vaccine.
Similarly, the government fact sheet mentioned all theprecautions and contradictions for the Covid-19 vaccine. You can access the fact-sheet by clicking on: Government fact-sheet on Covid-19 vaccines