DBT-BIRAC supported ZyCoV-D developed by Zydus Cadila Receives Emergency Use Authorization
Zydus Cadila received Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) today, i.e. 20/08/2021, for ZyCoV-D, the world’s first and India’s indigenously developed DNA-based vaccine for COVID-19 to be administered in humans, including children and adults 12 years and older. ZyCoV-D was developed in collaboration with the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, and implemented by BIRAC. It has been supported under COVID-19 Research Consortia through National Biopharma Mission for Preclinical studies, Phase I and Phase II Clinical Trials, and Mission COVID Suraksha for Phase III Clinical Trials. This 3 dose vaccine which when injected produces the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and elicits an immune response, which plays a vital role in protection from disease as well as viral clearance.
Covaxin works against Delta Plus:
In the study of efficacy of the Covaxin vaccine. They have found that despite a slight reduction in neutralisation antibody titres, the vaccine remains effective against the Delta, AY.1 (Delta Plus), and B.1.617.3 variants.
REASONS FOR NOT TAKING THE VACCINES ACROSS DIFFERENT COUNTRIES
This stacked area chart represents the reasons for not taking vaccines among participants from 11 countries.
Phone and online survey about vaccine hesitancy were conducted in 11 countries, out of which 9 are Low-middle income countries.
Concerns about side-effects has the biggest overall reason for vaccine hesitancy. More than half surveyees from Uganda were worried about side-effects. In Mozambique, most people don’t think vaccines are effective.
The other major beliefs were that they won’t fall seriously ill due to coronavirus while few were scared of getting coronavirus infection through the vaccines.
COVID-19 is a conspiracy and its not as serious as people say, were the other notable rationales for not the vaccines.
CDSCO expert panel recommends nod to study on mixing doses of Covaxin, Covishield
An expert panel of India’s central drug authority recommended granting permission to the Christian Medical College (CMC) in Vellore for conducting a clinical trial of mixing of two COVID-19 vaccines — Covaxin and Covishield.
The panel also recommended giving approval to Bharat Biotech for carrying out a study on interchangeability of its Covaxin and the under-trial adenoviral intranasal vaccine candidate BBV154, but asked the Hyderabad-based firm to remove the word “interchangeability” from the study title and submit a revised protocol for approval.
Effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines against the Delta variant
This case-control study compares the effectiveness of Pfizer-BioNTech (BNT162b2) and Covishield (ChAdOx1 nCoV-19) Vaccines against the Alpha and Delta variants.
Both the vaccines showed a rise in its effectiveness after administration of Dose 2.
BNT162b2 has 93.7% and 88%, while ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 shows 74.5% and 67% effectiveness against Alpha and Delta variants, respectively.
Safety and efficacy of Sputnik V vaccine: Phase 3 results.
This study was conducted on 21977 individuals, 18 years and above at 25 centres in Russia. The participants were randomly assigned to placebo and vaccines by 1:3 ratio. The vaccine vector components for dose 1 and dose 2 are rAd26-S and rAd5-S, respectively. The study reported 87.6% and 91.6% efficacy at 14- and 21-days post-dose 1. The efficacy of the vaccine after dos 2 was found to be 91.1%.
AstraZeneca finds small clot risk after 1st COVID shot, less after 2nd
AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine carries a small extra risk of rare blood clots with low platelets after the first dose and no extra risk after the second. The study, published in the Lancet medical journal, found that the estimated rate of thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS) after the first dose was 8.1 per million in those inoculated AstraZeneca. After the second dose of the vaccine, branded Vaxzevria and invented by Oxford University, the rate was 2.3 per million, comparable to that seen in unvaccinated people.
Covishield Gives 93% Protection Against Covid, 98% Mortality Reduction: AFMC Study
Addressing a press conference, NITI Aayog Member (Health) Dr V K Paul presented findings of the study which was conducted on 15 lakh doctors and frontline workers. Protection to the extent of 93 per cent was seen (in people who were administered the Covishield vaccine) and this was during the second wave which was driven by the Delta variant… also 98 per cent mortality reduction was seen.
Low-income countries have received only 0.27% of the COVID-19 vaccine doses administered so far
Low-income countries have received only 0.27% of the COVID-19 doses administered worldwide while high-income countries (30%) and upper-middle-income countries (52%) have acquired more than 80%. Of the 27 nations termed as low-income, 23 are in Africa. Due to this wide disparity in vaccine supply, of the 52 countries in Africa, 38 have given at least one dose to <5% of population.
