COVID Vaccination: All You Need to Know

Anyone over the age of 18 can now register for Covid-19 vaccine through the CoWIN site or the Aarogya Setu app. The COVID-19 vaccine is free in government hospitals, but you must pay for it in private institutions. These facilities are known as COVID vaccination centres (CVCs).

The Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) in India has granted emergency use authorization to two vaccines: Covishield® (AstraZeneca's vaccine manufactured by Serum Institute of India) and Covaxin® (AstraZeneca's vaccine made by Serum Institute of India) (manufactured by Bharat Biotech Limited). EUA has been granted to Sputnik - V in the month of April 2021.[1].

The Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) is a regulatory mechanism that allows vaccinations and medicines to be used to prevent and/or mitigate the effects of life-threatening diseases or conditions like COVID-19. Thorough examinations of laboratory and clinical trial data, including data on quality, safety, development of protective antibodies, and efficacy, are done prior to the grant of the EUA.

To understand the importance of vaccination for India, let us first understand vaccine meaning in detail. The immune system of our body aids in the protection of the body against infection-causing microorganisms. It is, for the most part, an efficient system. Microorganisms are either kept out or tracked down and eliminated. Some pathogens, on the other hand, can overwhelm the immune system. It is possible that this will result in significant illness.

The pathogens that the body does not identify are the ones that are most likely to create difficulties. Vaccination is a method of “teaching” the immune system to recognise and eradicate a pathogen. That way, if you're ever exposed, your body will be ready. Vaccines are a critical component of primary prevention. As a result, they can keep people from getting sick. The COVID-19 vaccine aids in the production of protective antibodies against the coronavirus in your body. Getting vaccinated against COVID-19 can help you avoid getting infected with the coronavirus or protect you from having a serious problems if you do get sick[2].

As per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), we are still learning a lot about COVID-19 vaccines. Regular assessment and research is going on to revise guidelines. What we do know for sure is that COVID-19 has caused a lot of serious illnesses and deaths in the past year.

If you contract COVID-19, you run the danger of infecting family members, who could become seriously ill. Hence, getting the coronavirus vaccine is a better option. Many activities that you conducted before the pandemic can be resumed once you are completely vaccinated for COVID-19.

The Government of India has identified the priority groups who would be given the COVID-19 vaccine first, based on the likely availability of vaccinations, because they are at higher risk. Healthcare and frontline employees make up the first group for vaccinations for India. Persons over 60 years old and those between 45 and 59 years old with comorbid disorders were the second group to get the COVID-19 vaccine.[1].

People over the age of 45 (born before January 1, 1977) became eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine starting April 1, 2021. Starting May 1, 2021, all citizens over the age of 18 became eligible to acquire the COVID-19 vaccine in India.

There is a lot of misinformation surrounding coronavirus vaccinations for India. Hence, it is important to know the right way to get vaccinated. Let’s look at what you should do before and after coronavirus vaccination:

The following are the stages of a covid-19 vaccine trial: [1]

• Vaccine development in laboratory animals (preclinical).
• Phase 1 clinical trial (with a small number of participants): Evaluate vaccination safety, immunological response, and dosage (short duration).
• Phase 2 clinical study (few hundred participants): Determine the vaccine's safety and capacity to elicit an immunological response (short duration).
• Determine vaccine effectiveness and safety in a bigger population of patients in a phase 3 clinical study (thousands of participants) (duration 1-2 years)

Both the Phase I and Phase II studies for the Indian COVID-19 vaccines have been completed. Moreover, Covishield Phase ® III trials in the United Kingdom and the bridging study in India are now also complete. [1]

It takes years of research to develop a vaccine. First, we need a vaccine candidate that has been tested for safety and efficacy in animals. A vaccine candidate enters the clinical trial phase after passing a pre-clinical trial.

While experts worked around the clock in the lab, regulatory clearances, which previously took several months, were expedited. It aided in the elimination of any temporal gaps between preclinical and clinical testing stages. Previously, vaccine development required a series of processes, but in the case of the coronavirus vaccine, scientists and regulators collaborated to speed up the process without sacrificing quality. [1]