Everything you need to know about vaccination in India

 As the second wave of Covid-19 caused havoc in India, the government started working on the Covid-19 vaccine. Finally, now we have two vaccination programs going on named Covishield and Covaxin. Now a third Covid-19 vaccine names Sputnik V is also on its way to help us fight against Covid-19. 

Let's discuss everything that you should know about all these three covid-19 vaccines. 

Covishield:

It is an Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. It is being manufactured by Serum Institute of India which is the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer. This Covid-19 vaccine has been made by adenovirus which means weakened common cold virus. It has been modified to act like a covid-19 virus. The covishield follows the main principle of vaccination. When Covishield is injected into a person, it delivers the virus inside the body which further induces the immune system to produce antibodies. the second dose is given after 4 to 12 weeks of the first dose. Its efficiency rate has been around 90%.

Covaxin:

It is a ‘made in India’ vaccine. Covaxin Covid-19 vaccine is made by Bharat Biotech which is a Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical company. It uses the killed covid-19 virus which is safe to inject into the body. The immune cells of our body recognize the dead virus injected through the vaccine. This induces the production of antibodies against the virus in our body. The second dose of vaccine is given after 4 weeks of the first dose. Covaxin has shown an 81% efficiency rate in its preliminary data.

 Sputnik V:

This Covid-19 vaccine has been developed by Gamaleya Institute in Moscow. This vaccine uses a cold-type virus which is altered to be non-hazardous. It uses an unarmed small fragment of the Covid-19 virus. This unarmed virus is introduced inside the body through vaccination and then our body starts to produce antibodies against it. This makes our immune system capable of fighting the covid-19 virus. The second dose of the vaccine is given after 21 days of the first dose. The second dose uses a different formula which ensures stronger immunity against the Covid-19 virus. India has signed a deal with Russia to produce more than 750 million doses of Sputnik V.

 

Vaccination shortage in India

The government has issued orders to provide vaccination for everyone above the age of 18 years. But there is an extreme shortage of Covid-19 vaccines in India. Till now only 17 crore doses of the Covid-19 vaccine have been administrated among the 1 billion population of India. According to medical experts, 70% population should be vaccinated to get herd immunity. Till now only 3% population has received all two doses of the vaccine. But with this speed, we won’t be able to achieve our goal even in the upcoming 5 years. 

Source: Indiatoday

The government is planning to start Sputnik V production in India in August. The government is also exploring ways of boosting Covid-19 vaccine production by doing it outside the country. 

The government has provided a very optimistic plan to vaccinate all the population of India till the end of 2021, though it has still a long way to go. We need to be careful and should take proper precautions till it happens. That’s why don’t forget to wear your mask and follow all the guidelines of the Covid-19. Let's defeat the Covid-19 virus together.