WHO’S GONNA SERVE THE VACCINE FIRST?

By Shivang Aggarwal

Are we really gonna get a vaccine for COVID-19? Hope so, as we are all waiting for our college days to be back. Well, more than 14 million have now been affected by the virus, and the situation is getting worse day by day.

Vaccine development is a long process carried out in 3 stages. The first stage is research and development, which has been very quick in the case of coronavirus. Also, most vaccine candidates are not based on the protein of the virus but its genetic sequence. The second stage, termed as pre-clinical, basically after R&D, is where the vaccine is tested on plants and animals to analyse their efficacy and functioning. In Stage 3, the clinical trials are conducted in 3 phases and tested on humans; the number of candidates is increased in each phase.

Getting success over all the stages requires a well-oiled infrastructure in the vaccine company and resources to manufacture it on a large scale.

LATEST UPDATES FOR COVID-19 VACCINE

1. The British-Swedish company AstraZeneca may deliver emergency vaccines by October as they have completed phase 2 trials in Brazil and South Africa. Their total manufacturing capacity stands at two billion doses.
   

2. The private Chinese company Sinovac Biotech is testing an inactivated vaccine called CoronaVac. In June the company announced Phase I/II trials. Sinovac then launched a Phase III trial in Brazil in July. The company is also building a facility to manufacture up to 100 million doses annually.
   

3. The Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Australia is conducting a Phase III trial, and several other trials are underway to see if the vaccine partly protects against the coronavirus.

Russia to make the vaccine available to the public next month? Russia's Sechenov University announced that it has successfully completed clinical trials of a coronavirus vaccine, developed by Russia's Defense Ministry's Gamalei Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology.

India’s first coronavirus vaccine COVAXIN got a nod from AIIMS ethics committee and trial begins well in 2 hospitals.

As the days are passing, the need for the vaccine against the virus is increasing. The coordination between the government and scientists is all we can expect. We pray for the early development of the vaccine so that millions of lives can be saved.