Soumi Goswami
India is in the second wave of the COVID Pandemic and is also in the second phase of the vaccination drive. In 2020, every country was racing to find a cure to this deadly disease and vaccine seemed to be the only antidote. Countries of the world have indeed succeeded in doing what’s next to impossible. We have the vaccines ready in a year of the pandemic. Our country has also developed and is manufacturing vaccines at a surplus rate now.
A huge relief has come when people have a little ray of hope in the form of vaccines. All the world powers and other countries too have picked up the pace and developed vaccines of their own.
So, what’s in it for us to understand and know? India has developed two variants of the vaccine developed by two different techniques. Let us spill some beans on the knowledge about the vaccines and what’s going on in the background.
The government has decided to begin the second vaccination drive. People above 60 and 45 with associated comorbidities are to get the shots in the second drive. That means, millions still have to wait to get the life-saving shots by the government.
Developed by-
Bharat Biotech International Ltd, based in Hyderabad, and the Indian Council of Medical Research along with the National Institute of Virology has developed the Covaxin.
Technology used-
Covaxin is developed using a traditional technology used to develop vaccines. That is by using inactivated or dead viruses. It is also called the Whole Virion Inactivated Vero Cell-derived technology.
What does it mean for our immune system?
As these vaccines are made with dead viruses, they cannot infect us. But our immune system after getting in contact with the dead viruses develops immunity. Our immune system has a group of memory cells that keep the memory of the infection. These cells prompt the immune system to prepare these antibodies after coming in contact with the virus. It means, our immune system prepares the antibodies to kill the virus when it infects us. Many other vaccines are developed by the same technology and they work for us fine. Although Covaxin was in its third clinical trial when the vaccination drive started, it has shown a good efficacy rate.
Developed by-
Oxford-AstraZeneca and Serum Institute of India, Pune is currently manufacturing the vaccines.
Technology used-
This vaccine is developed using completely new technology. It is developed using a viral vector platform. This means a chimp adenovirus is taken and engineered to carry the COVID 19 spike protein (the inactivated form of the virus). Because the chimp adenovirus acts as the viral vector carrying the protein to the human cells, it is called the viral vector platform.
What does it mean for our immune system?
The spike protein carried by the vector acts as the inactivated virus. So, it can’t infect us or make us sick but it can teach the immune system to prepare the immune response against the real virus upon infection.
Both the vaccines have to be taken in two shots in 28 days.
Both vaccines are found to be effective and are approved by the government for use. Take the shot on your turn and keep yourself and near ones safe from this deadly disease.
