All You Need To Know About Coronavirus Vaccine 

Healthwire Bureau

By Dr. Angeli Misra, Director Lifeline Laboratory

The corona virus pandemic has jolted the world and a large number of organizations and companies started aggressive research to make a vaccine. As of now up to 90 vaccines are being developed.

Basic Principles of Vaccine Development

    1. The first one is injecting live weakened (“live attenuated vaccine”) or inactivated virus (“inactivated virus”). The virus is inactivated by heat or chemicals.
    2. The second is “nucleic acid vaccine “In this case the nucleic acid (part of viral DNA or RNA) is inserted into the human’s cells. This nucleic acid then orders the host cell to produce the antigen which in case of SARS-Co-V2 virus it is the Spike protein or the S protein. The body then elicits and an immune reaction against this important protein. These vaccines are very effective and are easy to develop.
    3. The Viral Vector vaccines are vaccines where viruses such as the adeno virus or the measles virus are modified genetically such that they can produce the corona virus proteins. These viruses do not cause disease by themselves.
    4. The fourth type of vaccine are the Protein-Based Vaccines. In this case subunits of the viral proteins are used and injected, and these cause an immune response in the body. Sometimes the empty virus shells may be used and these mimics the viral structure triggering a strong immune reaction. However, these are difficult to manufacture.

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Available Covid-19 Vaccines

The major vaccines that are available now for corona virus are Moderna, BioNTech Pfizer, Univ of Oxford-Astra Zeneca. Some of the other vaccines are CanSino Biologicals, Inovio, Sinovac, Sinopharm Beijing, Novavax, Gamaleya Research Institute, Cure vac, Johnson and Johnson and Sanofi Glaxo Smith Kline.

  1. Moderna Vaccine: The Moderna Vaccine is a nucleic acid vaccine and uses mRNA. The genetic instructions for coronavirus spike protein are coded in the mRNA and nanotechnology is used to deliver this into the body. The trials have shown that the efficacy of the vaccine was 94% and also the vaccine prevented people from getting severe disease.
  2. The BioNTech, Pfizer vaccine: It is also a mRNA vaccine and again codes the spike protein. It is delivered into the cells via the lipid nanotech technology. Data has shown a more than 95% efficacy. Side effects like fatigue and fever were noted and four cases also had Bell’s Palsy (face nerve palsy). Overall, vaccine is safe and has cleared all the regulations and is now in use in many of the countries.

The drawback of this nucleic acid vaccine is that they need to be stored in -70-degree Centigrade. It is therefore difficult to consider these vaccines as vaccines for global immunization.

  1. University of Oxford/Astra Zeneca vaccine:  It uses the technology of using a nonreplicating virus vector. The UK drug authority has authorized two shots of this vaccine with a gap of one month. The efficacy of this vaccine is less than the Moderna or the Pfizer vaccine.  The vaccine is cheaper than other similar vaccines. However the clear advantage is that since it does not need to be stored at very low temperatures it is a good vaccine for global immunization.

Other Vaccines

    1. CanSino Pharma vaccine uses non replicating virus vector. The vaccine was used in the Chinese Military.
    2. Inovio vaccine uses DNA plasmid to code for the Spike protein. The full production of this vaccine has not started yet.
    3. Sinopharm, Beijing vaccine uses inactivated SARS CoV-2 and it is still undergoing clinical trials.
    4. Sputnik V uses adenovirus vector for the vaccine. The vaccine has a 91% efficacy. The vaccine can be stored at 2 to 4 degrees and therefore it is possible to use this vaccine for global immunization.

Vaccines in India

In India two vaccines have got regulatory approval.

Covishield: It is a variant of the Oxford/Astra Zeneca vaccine and is made by the Serum Institute of India. This vaccine has a 70.4 % efficacy.

Covaxin: It is developed by Bharat Biotech and ICMR. It is made from whole inactivated SARS CoV-2 virion. The efficacy data of this vaccine is not available.

With the aggressive immunization drive that is being planned by all the countries globally we hope to overcome the pandemic soon in the coming year.

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