Feature | Covishield® | Covaxin® | Sputnik V® |
Developer | Developed by Oxford-AstraZeneca and is being manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII) in India. | Developed by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech International Ltd in association with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the National Institute of Virology (NIV).
| Developed by Russian state institute Gamaleya National Research Centre of Epidemiology and Microbiology. It will be manufactured in India by Dr Reddy’s Laboratories. |
Type of Vaccine | ChAdOx1 nCoV- 19 CoronaVirus Vaccine (Recombinant)
| Whole-Virion Inactivated Vero Cell-derived technology | Adenoviral vector-based vaccine. This vaccine uses two slightly different active components in the two doses. It uses Serotype 26 (rAd26) for the first dose and serotype 5 (rAd5)for the second dose. |
Route of administration | Intramuscular | Intramuscular | Intramuscular |
Dose | 0.5 ml | 0.5 ml | 0.5 ml |
Schedule | 2 doses, 2nd dose 12 to 16 weeks from the date of 1st dose administration ( ~84 days) | 2 doses, 2nd dose 4 to 8 weeks while an interval of 6 to 8 weeks gives an enhanced protection from the date of 1st dose administration | 2 doses, 2nd dose 21 days from the date of 1st dose administration |
Storage | All three vaccines can be stored at 2-8 degrees centigrade, which is a household refrigerator temperature. This makes the vaccines most suited for Indian conditions as most of the vaccines here are kept at the same temperature range. This also makes the transportation and storage of these vaccines easier. | ||
Efficacy | 70% efficacy as per global reports | 78% interim efficacy | 91.6% efficacy |
Authorisation | Covishield® has been allowed for restricted use in emergency situations. | Covaxin® has been granted a restricted-use authorization in clinical trial mode. | Sputnik V® has allowed for restricted use in emergency situations. |
Drugs Controller General of India (DGCI) has not given a market use authorization clearance to any of the vaccines till now. | |||
Cost | The Central government is procuring both vaccines at ₹150/dose and is providing it free of cost to the people in government facilities. On April 21, the Serum Institute set the price of its vaccine, Covishield®, at ₹400 a dose to State governments and ₹600 for private hospitals. Bharat Biotech has set the price of Covaxin® at ₹600 per dose for State governments and ₹1,200 per dose for private hospitals. (as on April 25) | MRP ₹948 + 5% GST/ dose, ie, ₹995.40/ dose | |
No. Covaxin® is an inactivated vaccine, which has been prepared on a tried and tested platform of dead viruses. This vaccine is developed with Whole-Virion Inactivated Vero Cell-derived technology. They contain inactivated viruses, which can not infect a person but still can teach the immune system to prepare a defence mechanism against the active virus.
These conventional vaccines have been in use for decades now. There are vaccines for some other diseases as well which are made using the same technology. These diseases are –
- Seasonal influenza
- Rabies
- Polio
- Pertussis, and
- Japanese encephalitis
Covishield® has been prepared using the viral vector platform which is a totally different technology. A chimpanzee adenovirus – ChAdOx1 – has been modified to enable it to carry the COVID-19 spike protein into the cells of humans. Well, this cold virus is basically incapable of infecting the receiver but can very well teach the immune system to prepare a mechanism against such viruses. The exact technology was used to prepare vaccines for viruses like Ebola.
Sputnik V® vaccine (Gam-COVID-Vac) is an adenoviral-based, two-part vaccine. It uses a weakened virus to deliver small parts of a pathogen and stimulate an immune response. It is a vector vaccine based on adenovirus DNA, in which the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus gene is integrated. Adenovirus is used as a “container” to deliver the coronavirus gene to cells and start the synthesis of the new coronavirus’s envelope proteins, “introducing” the immune system to a potential enemy.
It is a two-component vaccine in which adenovirus serotypes 5 and 26 are used and is produced with the HEK293 cell line.
Source: Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, GOI, Covishield Factsheet, Covaxin Factsheet, Sputnik V Information
