Tag: #vaccine

Covid-19 vaccine

“Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.”

Mahatma Gandhi

Yes the will power should be strong and covid-19 checked it and many passed the test by accepting the lockdown situation during the crisis. The Covid-19 also known as Coronavirus is a group RNA virus which infects only mammals and birds. It causes respiratory related diseases which range from mild to lethal.This new group of viruses were named coronaviruses after their distinctive morphological appearance.Human coronavirus 229E and human coronavirus OC43 continued to be studied in subsequent decades. The coronavirus strain B814 was lost. It is not known which present human coronavirus it was.Other human coronaviruses have since been identified, including SARS-CoV in 2003, HCoV NL63 in 2003, HCoV HKU1 in 2004, MERS-CoV in 2013, and SARS-CoV-2 in 2019 which got spread worldwide, therefore named as Covid-19. This virus has made humans learn about humanity by helping others in pandemic situations. Many people lost their lives while fighting against the virus, due to lack of oxygen and treatment. The current 22nd June 2021 covid case study is total cases are 179,680,188 and deaths are 3,891,130 and the recovered ones are in no of 164,370,420. As the virus is mutating and evolving so vaccination is the key form to stop spread of this virus.

Vaccinate World

During Pandemic time it was the feeling that the whole world was a slave under coronavirus. But there were many frontline workers in the form of Freedom Fighters who fought for people and stood as a shield against deadly viruses . Many lost their lives but they fought till their last breath. Over 80 lakh frontline workers were lost in this fight. They are the doctors, nurses, the working and non-working staff of hospitals. They performed their duty without taking their own care. The only hope to stop covid-19 is Vaccine. Firstly, many researchers tested various mammals and studied its effects on them. Now the mission to Vaccinate world began. The vaccines were introduced around the world and each had a different time interval between doses. Here is the list of vaccines introduced in the world which gave hope to survive:-

1.      Pfizer–BioNTech

2.      Moderna

3.      novirus vector vaccines

4.      Oxford–AstraZeneca

5.      Sputnik V

6.      Johnson & Johnson

7.      Convidecia

8.      Sputnik Light

9.      Sinopharm (BBIBP)

10.   CoronaVac

11.   Covaxin

12.   Sinopharm (WIBP)

13.   CoviVac

14.   QazCovid-in

15.   EpiVacCorona

16.   ZF2001

Problems occurred and Faced them

We know that the world isn’t filled with only smart people, there are some people who are interested in troubling others. In this covid like situation some people became hurdle in path of the vaccinated world. Their bad deeds include selling oxygen cylinders in black, storing them in large numbers so as to sell at higher prices during shortages. They didn’t stop here, they even started a black market of vaccines. They know that poor ones are badly in need of vaccines so they take advantage of this situation and sell vaccines at 3 or 4 times higher price than the value set by the government and the poor ones have no option but to buy it. They are too helpless and no one comes to help them and they sell everything for a single dose of vaccine. But for bad people there are always punishers such as cops who made them come to the right path. The cops raided many places, seized vaccines and oxygen cylinders and arrested the gangs working behind these scams. All countries helped each other in one or other way and formed a special bond between them that is of humanity.

Spreading Awareness

Social media, which is one the best inventions, can spread awareness among people regarding the use of vaccines. This awareness is much more important because many are unaware of the importance of vaccines. There are also some people who think doing vaccination is nothing, it is a waste of time. They also spread wrong information about vaccines. This information is spread within a minute in thousands through social media. This needs to be stopped. These bad influencers need to understand that vaccines are a type of advantage for people not a disadvantage. It is an essential key against covid virus. There are many good spreaders who understand and help people digitally through social media. I would specially refer to them as “digital frontliners”. So it is a humble request to spread awareness among people as much as you can.

At last I would like to say “Stay Strong Stay Safe”

Serum institute to begin novavax covid vaccine trials for kids in july

Pune-based Serum Institute of India said that clinical trials on children will begin from the month of July.

Amidst fears of the third wave of Coronavirus vaccine on children from July onwards. Pune – based SII, which is also manufacturing the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab known as Covishield in India, is hoping to introduce the Novavax vaccine, to be known as Covavax in the country, by September.

In the midst of vaccine shortage across the country, Novavax vaccine got a shot in the arm as the clinical trials were conducted across 119 locations in the United States and Mexico and proved efficacy of the vaccine. The development comes just days after Novavax Inc announced that its vaccine had turned out to be more than 90 percent effective in trials, including against a number of coronavirus variants of concern, in a large, late-stage clinical trial conducted in the United States. It was said that the trial was done on nearly 30,000 volunteers in the US and Mexico. According to the company, it is likely to apply for emergency use authorization in the US and other countries in the third quarter of this year.

Soon after the news broke out about the excellent clinical trial results, Dr VK Paul who is the head of India Covid-19 task force urged Serum Institute to begin clinical trials of the vaccine on children without any delay. While terming the vaccine clinical trials result as a positive development, Dr Paul had also said the vaccine was very relevant as it would be indigenously produced in the country and groundwork for the manufacturing of the vaccine has also been completed by SII.

As per the study, the vaccine candidate was found to be 93 percent effective against COVID-19 variants that are more easily transmissible and predominant. According to Novavax, the vaccine is generally well tolerated. Its side effects seen during the trial include mild headache, fatigue and muscle pain. According to the company, it is expecting to produce 100 million doses per month by the end of the third quarter of 2021 and 150 million doses per month in the fourth quarter of 2021. What makes the Covavax vaccine critical in the country’s Covid-19 immunisation programme is the fact that the government expects about 20 crore doses of the vaccine to be available between August and December. Also, the vaccine can be stored at a temperature between 2 and 8 Celsius which makes it highly suitable for Indian conditions where logistics and storage bottlenecks in far flung areas hamper efficient inoculation.

After the completion of clinical trials and regulatory approval to the vaccine, India’s Covid-19 vaccination drive will pick pace with three indigenously manufactured vaccines namely- Serum’s Covishield and Covavax and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin. 

Covid-19: let’s see what’s going to be.

Some experts are also with the opinion that it could become the dominant strain in most of the parts of the world.

Okay, let’s keep this aside but do you think that this unlock would give us the better results, I’m neutral here as, the economy of the India is important I know it’s important but the lives of our Indians is the most important thing. Giving it a basic trail if you’ve have heard about those individuals and who were so happily living their lives who used to sing, dance, cook and etc etc. But after a few days they were no more you might heard it from your parents from your relatives from your friends that, that particular guy isn’t here with us he/she died due to covid and even when they were treated with the best medicines, from our best doctors but we all know from where does it started so let me tell you being careless about this pandemic would make you sit on the bed, so let me tell you my experience around 5-6 days ago me and my friend we were going for a morning walk and he removed his mask saying that he’s strong he won’t be having covid. I mean guys we have to be honest with ourselves that are we giving our best ladies and gentlemen please take care of yourselves:

Make sure you are wearing a proper mask.

Make sure you are washing your hands.

Make sure you are done with your doses (vaccination)

Make sure you are not going outside without any need.

Make sure you and your family are safe. And our nation is your family too.

Take care of yourselves covid is not gone yet.

Nasal Vaccine to Combat COVID-19

Covaxin,Covishield,Sputnik V (left to right)

The unprecedented onset of COVID-19 brought an unexpected storm in the lives of people all around the globe. The pandemic not only affected the jobs and social life of the people but also took a great toll on the lives of people, resulting in the death of lakhs of people in India.

Medical researchers around the world extensively worked for developing vaccines for the deadly coronavirus. India at present produces two locally developed vaccines for coronavirus: Covaxin and Covishield.

Covaxin is a product of Bharat Biotech, while Covishield is a product of Serum Institute of India. Both vaccines require two doses.

The government of India further approved for the use of Sputnik V vaccine, supplied by Russia. Unlike Covaxin and Covishield, the Sputnik V vaccine is a single dose vaccine. This vaccine is also locally being produced for fastening the vaccination drive.

Now, a new vaccine is in the process of developing- the nasal vaccine.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 07th June 2021, Monday said that researchers are working on the nasal vaccine, and hopefully it would turn out to be successful, which would further increase the pace of vaccination drive in the country.

What is a Nasal Vaccine?

As the name suggests, the nasal vaccine is a vaccine given through a person’s nose. It does not require to be injected in the body by a needle unlike the existing vaccines. It is a spray that is pumped via nostrils which would travel through the nasal passage and directly work upon the microbes that might have travelled through air.

As it is found out that the coronavirus commonly enters the body through the nose affecting the respiratory tract and lungs, damaging the respiratory system. The nasal vaccine would intercept the virus, helping combat the virus and prevent it from multiplication. It would also build a much widespread immune system against the coronavirus.

Currently, vaccination drive is going on for the people above the age of 18 years. The children below the age of 18 years are still left to be vaccinated. Which again is a matter of great concern as the old aged and the children are more vulnerable to coronavirus. The existing vaccines are not suitable for the children and hence the kids are left to be vaccinated.

Experts say, if the nasal vaccine turns out to successful, it would be safe to use nasal vaccine on children. It would also much easy to be administered in kids as it would not require insertion of needle on the skin, which children often resists because of the pain caused.

The nasal vaccine would be a single dose requirement unlike the existing vaccines. It is also expected to have no after affects like pain, fever or cold, as with the existing vaccines. The nasal vaccine could be self-administered with any medical help as it has a simple process of spraying the vaccine into the nostrils.

The self-assistance aspect of nasal vaccine would also reduce the crowd which is often seen for getting the present vaccines because of the que people have to stand in.

Covid Vaccines: Why you can’t compare 92% efficiency with 81% efficiency

The only way to fight this deadly pandemic is by vaccinating ourselves. People are people’s cure. With so many companies releasing Covid-19 vaccines, people get confused as to which parameter is to be used while comparing them. Most of them start comparing vaccines based on their efficiency. There is a strong reason behind why you shouldn’t do that.

Parameters to consider

covishield,covaxin,sputnik
Covaxin, Covishield, Sputnik V (left to right)

Let us consider the three most used vaccines in India: Sputnik V, Covaxin, Covishield. The efficacy rates of the three are:

  • Sputnik V- 92%
  • Covaxin-81%
  • Covishield-70%

Based on this data, one may conclude that Sputnik V is the best and Covishield the worst. But before reaching this conclusion, let us consider some more important specifications.

Sputnik V vaccine:

Sputnik V is an adenoviral based Russian made vaccine, used against Covid-19. It works by introducing a weakened virus into the body so that they don’t immediately replicate and cause disease. Instead it prepares our immune system so that when the real virus attacks, the severity can be minimum to none. It requires two doses, with a 21 day interval between.

The trials were conducted on volunteers from Russia from June 2020 to Nov 2020 against the original and UK variant Covid-19. 19,000 volunteers from Russia participated in the trial, so trials were not done on Indian people.

Covaxin:

Covaxin was developed by India’s National Institute of Virology (NIV). It works by introducing a dead Covid virus into the body, thus enabling the immune system to develop a response, and this method is often considered safe. It was first trialed on animals, and then proceeded to human trials. It requires two doses, with a 4-6 week interval between.

The trials were conducted on volunteers from India from June 2020 to Jan 2021 against both the original and UK variant virus. Trials were done on a total of 26,000 volunteers.

Covishield:

Covishield was developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca. It works by introducing a weakened version of a common cold adenovirus into the body and triggers an immune response. It requires two doses, with a 4-8 week interval between.

The trials were conducted on volunteers from USA from August 2020 to December 2020 against the original virus only. Trials were done on a total of 30,000 volunteers.

As it can be observed, all three vaccine trials were conducted under different time periods, in different countries, on people of different nationalities on different variant viruses. Thus comparing them solely on the efficiency rates alone is not fair.

So which one to choose?

The answer to this question is that all three do their jobs as specified. There is no single ‘perfect’ vaccine. So instead of waiting for a vaccine with higher efficiency rate, try to vaccinate yourself as soon as possible. The goal of a vaccine is not to prevent you from getting Covid-19, but to reduce its severity, thus reducing severe symptoms and death.

Evidently, no vaccinated individual during the trials were hospitalized when they got Covid-19. The intake of medicines prescribed by their doctors, good food and isolation cured them. Hence this is proof that vaccination reduces the severity of the virus. Do not be under the false pretense that once vaccinated, Covid-19 cannot affect you and hence do not roam out. You maybe vaccinated, but other may not be. So do not be the cause of their attack.

This post was written with the intention of debunking the false hope of people that better efficiency rate equals better vaccine. So vaccinate yourself when you get the chance instead of waiting for the perfect vaccine. Be safe and be home. Let us together win this battle and soon return back to normal.

Covishield Gap reduced for Keralites going abroad

Kerala government had recently informed the Centre about the issues being faced by people who are travelling to foreign countries and later stated that they require certificates with passport numbers as many nations are only accepting the certificate of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine: Kerala government made a decision on Friday regarding those who need to travel abroad for some important purpose such as jobs, education etc. Kerala government decided to issue a covid 19 vaccination certificate with passports for such people. As per the order, person who took a jab of Covishield and wants to get travel clearance will be eligible for second dose after about four to six weeks.

Earlier the gap between the doses was about four to six weeks but later the government changed it. The central government increased the gap between two jabs and set it to twelve to sixteen weeks. The state government gave a statement related to it “A person who took Covishield jab and wants to get travel clearance will be eligible for second dose of Covishield after 4 to 6 weeks. Since currently Covid-19 portal does not permit to administer the second dose of Covishield within a period of less than 12 weeks, this is to be recorded separately by the districts,“.

The order declared the District Medical officer as an authorised person who would issue certificate of vaccination in a proper prescribed format. “Since the World Health Organisation (WHO) has already cleared Covishield vaccine, the same may be given as preference to people travelling abroad. Covishield vaccine will be provided from the vaccine procured by the State,” said the Kerala government. For ensuring that vaccines are being given to eligible person other documents could be used such as live visa, admission document for students, job confirmation letter/work permit for employees.

In a letter by the state government led by Pinarayi Vijayan to central government, they informed them about the situation Indians are facing while travelling abroad for education or job purposes. They stated that travelers are requiring proper certificate with their passport numbers as many nations are only accepting certificate by Oxford – AstraZeneca vaccine. And the Indian manufactured covishield vaccine is developed by Oxford University – AstraZeneca and is manufactured by Pune based – Serum Institute of India (SII) .

In the order, a statement was released by Kerala health department “All the issues were brought into the notice of Government of India to make provisions in CoWIN for permission to include passport details in CoWIN. It was also requested to give permission to the State Government to issue vaccination certificate with changes till provisions are made available in CoWIN. Further, it was requested to permit beneficiaries going abroad to take Covishield as per the previous schedule of 4–6 weeks and to make provisions in the CoWIN portal to document such vaccination given at 4 -6 weeks. However, no orders/letters are received from Government of India so far. In the above circumstances, Government has issued these directions.” Now the central government is expected to take any action on that.

Coronavirus Vaccines Highly Effective against B1.617.2 Variant

Coronovirus vaccine is highly effective against B1.617.2 variant, revealed by a Study in UK: A new study was conducted by some health officials in UK. It shocked everyone with its results. For the first time, it has revealed that the two doses of coronavirus vaccines are highly effective against the B1.617.2 variant i.e. the variant which was primarily reported in Maharashtra, India. It has also been referred as a double mutation variant throughout the world.

Coronavirus vaccine

Coronavirus Vaccines effectiveness against B1.617.2 Variant: 

As said by PHE (Public Health England) “The Pfizer or BioNTech vaccine was about 88 per cent effective against symptomatic COVID-19 from the B1.617.2 variant of concern (VOC) two weeks after the second dose, the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine was 60 per cent effective against symptomatic disease from the B1.617.2 VOC.”

However after a single dose of jab of vaccine, it was not much effective against VOC found in India. It’s effectiveness was 33% only.

As per Matt Hancock, the health secretary of UK, “This new evidence is groundbreaking – and proves just how valuable our COVID-19 vaccination programme is in protecting the people we love,”. 

He further said that “It’s clear how important the second dose is to secure the strongest possible protection against COVID-19 and its variants – and I urge everyone to book in their jab when offered, I’m increasingly confident we”re on track for the roadmap because this data shows the vaccine after two doses works just as effectively, and we all know that the vaccine is our way out of this”

As per the reports from analysis, the effectiveness of vaccine after two doses of jab is same in B1.617.2 variant as in the variant which is currenty present in UK. PHE (Public Health England) expects that the results will be more better in future and will be more effective against hospitalizations and deaths.

PHE also revealed that the difference in effectiveness between the vaccines after two doses could be explained by the fact that the second doses of AstraZeneca was rolled out a bit later than the Pfizer vaccine. The other data on antibody profiles showed that it usually takes longer to reach maximum effectiveness with the AstraZeneca vaccine.

A statement was also given by the vaccine deployment minister of UK, Nadhim Zahavi that “Today’s data is astounding and a true reflection of just how important it is to get both your jabs when offered. I encourage all those offered an appointment to get their jab booked in as soon as possible and take full advantage of the high levels of protection the vaccines bring”

PHE believes that since there are very less cases and insufficient follow up periods, it is taking longer for them to estimate the effectiveness of coronavirus vaccine against the B1.617.2 variant, but they  believe that they will definitely be able to evaluate this in the future. They estimate this not only in the case of variant primarily reported in India but also in the case of other variants which are being reported from different parts of world.

First Covid-19 vaccine to be available in India by early 2021, says health ministry

As the world races to develop a potential vaccine against coronavirus (Covid-19), the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Monday said that the first vaccine in India will most likely be available by early 2021.null

The health ministry said the research to develop a Covid-19 vaccine is being “done expeditiously”.

During a media briefing, Union health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan said, “Research to develop a vaccine is being done expeditiously. There ar at least 3 viable such vaccine candidates that are in the phase of clinical trials right now in the country. We’re hopeful that within 1st quarter of 2021 it will be available”, as quoted by ANI.

With a spike of 82,170 new coronavirus cases in last 24 hours, India’s Covid-19 tally crossed the 60-lakh mark on Monday, according to the data provided by health ministry.

The health ministry on Monday also released the 100-year timeline history of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) .

“Today’s a historic day for ICMR. It’s an honour for me to release the 100-year timeline of the history of ICMR within its premises today. The contribution of scientists associated with it is commemorated and serves as an inspiration to upcoming scientists,” Dr Vardhan told media.

Vaccination and COVID-19

How long has it been since we went to school met our friends or had a family dinner at some restaurant? Since March 2020, we have all been advised to stay home and sanitise ourselves in order to stay safe. Sanitizers and masks have been added to our daily use products, all because of one tiny yet dangerous virus Covid-19!

The world is now waiting anxiously for a vaccine against this dreaded virus. Researchers around the world are working round the clock to develop vaccines to combat the pandemic. Currently, more than 165 vaccines against the corona virus are under process and 27 vaccines are undergoing human trials. Vaccines typically require years of research and testing before reaching the clinic. Today, scientists all over the world are racing to produce a safe and effective vaccine by next year.

• When did the efforts start

Efforts to make a successful Covid-19 vaccine began in January 2020 with the deciphering of the SARS-CoV -2 genome. The first vaccine safety trials in humans started in March but the road ahead remains uncertain. Some trials will fail and others may end without a clear result. But a few may succeed in stimulating the immune system to produce effective antibodies against the virus.

• India and vaccine against Covid-19

Like many other countries, India too is immersed in the efforts to develop successful vaccines to counter Covid-19. Thirty different Indian companies are trying to produce a vaccine to fight the infection. 7 out of these have received approval from the World Health Organization. These vaccines are in different stages of testing and clinical trials now.

COVAXIN

COVAXIN is developed by Hyderabad based Bharat Biotech International Limited in collaboration with ICMR and NIV, Pune. This is the first vaccine from India to get regulatory approval. The vaccine makes us an inactive version of a virus to spike up production of antibodies in the host body. It recently initiated Phase I and Phase II of clinical testing.

ZyCoV-D

ZyCoV-D is being developed by Zydus Cadila based in Ahmedabad. The Phase I trials of the vaccine have already begun. Extensive research was done regarding the same in collaboration with medical labs in Europe and US.

• Russia and vaccine against Covid-19

Russia is one of the countries worst affected by Covid-19. The country has been pushing extensively for a Covid-19 vaccine for quite some time now; Russia too is a part of the race to produce the world’s first Covid vaccine. It is possible that Russia would be ready with its first domestic corona virus vaccine soon. The clinical trials were conducted by the Gamaleya National Research centre of Epidemiology and microbiology. There seem to be no reports of side effects on the volunteers. All the participants showed immunity and the country is planning for the serial production of the vaccine by September. By the beginning of next year, Russia hopes to manufacture several million doses of corona virus vaccines per month.

• Oxford University’s efforts to develop a vaccine

The university of Oxford has partnered with AstraZeneca, a British-Swedish pharmaceutical company to develop an adenovirus vector vaccine to combat Covid-19. The vaccine prototype is currently in Phase III of testing. Trials of the vaccine developed by Oxford University show it can trigger an immune response. The vaccine which has so far been found to be safe and effective is expected to be made available for the masses by the end of 2020. This vaccine would also be the first such vaccine to have a large scale testing in India. The observatory data for this vaccine is expected to be available by November this year. The company has tied up with Pune based serum institute of India to mass produce the vaccine once the company gets required approvals and licensing from medical boards.

• Some methods used to make vaccines for Covid-19

Different scientists across the world try different techniques and formulas to develop vaccines. The Oxford researchers have put small sections of the corona virus genetic code into a harmless virus that infects chimpanzees. They appear to have developed a safe virus that looks enough like the corona virus to produce an immune system. Some other scientists have used pieces of raw genetic code, either DNA or RNA. When these are injected into the body it would start producing bits of viral proteins which the immune system can learn to fight. There is also work on corona virus vaccines called ‘plug and play’ vaccines. This method is new and less tested.

Thank you for reading. Have a nice day!🌼

WHO will not endorse COVID-19 vaccine if not safe and effective.

The World Health Organization insisted Friday it would never endorse a vaccine that has not proven safe and effective, amid concerns over the rush to develop a jab for Covid-19. Across the globe, governments are hoping to deploy a vaccine as soon as possible against the virus, which has infected well over 26 million people, killed hundreds of thousands, upended millions of lives and wreaked havoc on the global economy.

Under normal procedures, test administrators must wait for months or years to verify that vaccine candidates are safe and efficacious.
But as the pandemic continues to take a devastating toll, there has been massive pressure to roll out a vaccine quickly, sparking concerns that testing standards could be lowered. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus insisted that was not the case.

“WHO will not endorse a vaccine that is not effective and safe,” he told a virtual briefing.

He also took issue with the so-called anti-vax movement that has been stoking fears about the vaccines in development. They might be able to “build narratives to fight against vaccines, but the track record of vaccines tells its own story,” he said.

There are currently more than 30 candidate vaccines being tested on humans, with at least eight in final-stage Phase III trials, which typically involve tens of thousands of people. Unprecedented speed’ – “It is a very optimistic scenario because there’s a huge field of candidates,” WHO’s chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan told Friday’s briefing, emphasising that only around 10 percent of candidate vaccines succeed.

She explained that the “unprecedented speed of development of Covid vaccines” was largely enabled by prior investments in vaccine platforms for other diseases, which had been repurposed for use against the novel coronavirus. But she stressed, developers must not skip over the various phases of stringent testing.

“No vaccine is going to be mass-deployed before the regulators are confident and the governments are confident and that WHO is confident that these vaccines have met the minimum standards of safety and efficacy.” Tedros voiced hope that one would soon become available “so that the world can get back to norma.” But while the WHO has said it expects to see results from a range of Phase III trials by the end of the year, it on Friday tempered hopes that a vaccine is imminent.

Pointing to the massive challenge of manufacturing and rolling out vaccines to the billions around the world who need them, widespread vaccination is not expected to begin until the middle of 2021. Moral and economic imperative’ – Tedros stressed that, initially at least, supply would be limited.

“Priority must be given to vaccinating essential workers and those most at risk,” he said, stressing that “the first priority must be to vaccinate some people in all countries, rather than all people in some countries.” The WHO has set up a mechanism, known as Covax, aimed at ensuring a more equitable distribution of any future vaccines, but has struggled so far to raise the funds needed to provide for the 92 poor countries that have signed up. But Tedros hailed Friday that 78 high- and upper-middle income countries and economies have now confirmed they will participate, including Germany, Japan, Norway and the European Commission in just the past week. He pointed out that in an interconnected world, “the virus will continue to kill and the economic recovery globally will be delayed” if poorer countries are unable to gain access to a vaccine. Sharing equitably, he said, is “not just a moral imperative and a public health imperative, it’s also an economic imperative.”

India will have an Important role in scaling up vaccine production: PM Modi.

As the whole world is waiting for discovery of corona virus , the next big challenge in front of world is large scale production of vaccine so that it is feasible to common man.India is going to play major role in vaccine production as it has past experience as well as skilled doctors. India is responsible for providing 2/3 of world’s children with vaccine.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his inaugural address at the India Global Week 2020, said that India will play an important role in developing and in scaling up production of the vaccine once it is discovered.

“Vaccines made in India are responsible for 2/3rd of the vaccine needs of the world’s children. Today also our companies are active in international efforts for development and production of vaccine. I’m certain that India will have an important role in developing and in scaling up production of the vaccine once it is discovered,” PM Modi said.

Speaking on India’s economy, PM Modi said, “India remains one of the most open economies in the world. We are laying a red carpet for all global companies to come and establish their presence in India. Very few countries will offer the kind of opportunities India does today.”

“The pandemic has once again shown that India’s pharma industry is an asset not just for India but for the entire world. It has played a leading role in reducing the cost of medicines, especially for developing countries,” the Prime Minister said.

He also further said that India will lead world in the path of revival post corona virus pandemic in terms of economic as well social development.India is power house of young talents may it be technological or scientific or doctors field.

World over, you have seen the contribution of India’s talent-force. Who can forget the Indian tech industry & tech professionals. They have been showing the way for decades. India is a power-house of talent that is eager to contribute. In these times, it is natural to talk about revival. It is equally natural to link global revival and India. There is faith that the story of global revival will have India playing a leading role,” PM Modi said.

Hope there will be discovery of vaccine soon and life comes back on track.

Covid-19 vaccine can be expected by end of 2020:Serum Institute of India.

Chief Executive Officer of the Pune-based Serum Institute Of India (SII) Adar Poonawalla on Monday said the company is expecting the vaccine for COVID-19 to be ready by the year-end.

The Institute has partnered with British-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca to manufacture and supply the vaccine being developed by the University of Oxford under which the SII will supply over a billion doses of vaccine in India, and to other developing and under-developed countries.

However, the approval for the vaccine from the Drug Controller General of India is still awaited.

The institute is expecting to get approval in next six months.The Oxford COVID-19 vaccine trial is currently in its Phase 3 or human trial stage, and will be administered to around 8,000 people in the U.K.

chief executive Poonawalla said while referring to another vaccine candidate from India ie Covaxin of Bharat Biotech, that the company is in no hurry to produce vaccine without proper actions and tests for safety and efficacy.Once they are confident about vaccine, they would launch the vaccine but that would be still 6 months away.

However Bharat Biotech is also confident about its candidate vaccine named Covaxin and has started phase-1 human trials enrolling about 375 patients for test. It is very unlikely that Corona vaccine to be out for masses before or on 15 August, despite the letter of ICMR since human trials may take up to 6-8 months to complete even after conducting only important tests and checks.

It is very positive for the country that we are seeing candidates for vaccine which are in human trials.The vaccine developed in country will be great opportunity for Indian institutes to once again lead the world in pandemic situation.

Dexamethasone- Corona Vaccine Update!!!

Finally some good news today dexamethasone is now being called a major breakthrough based on a recent randomized controlled trial in the UK. Dexamethasone also known as Decadron is an example of a glucocorticoid are sometimes referred to as corticosteroids other examples of glucocorticoids include hydrocortisone methyl prednisolone prednisolone, prednisone beta methazone and triamcinolone so glucocorticoids are a class of steroid hormones that bind to the glucocorticoid receptor in the body cortisol aka hydrocortisone is the glucocorticoid.

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We naturally make in our body it’s essential for life it regulates or supports various cardiovascular metabolic and homeostatic functions it also plays a big role in our immune system especially when it comes to reducing certain aspects of inflammation this is why we use them all the time in medicine we sometimes give these steroids for asthma copd rheumatologic type diseases and countless more diseases. Sometimes it is also given for steroids for meningitis and also for some forms of cancer we also give them in the early course of severe ards acute respiratory distress syndrome whether that ards is due to infection such as pneumonia or vaping lung injury or whatever the cause for severe ards we typically give methylprednisolone or solumedral at a dose of one milligram per kilogram per day. So, for most people that ends up being around 80 milligrams per day so this is the equivalent of 15 milligrams of dexamethasone the idea here is to suppress the cytokine storm that has taken place meaning that the massive amount of inflammation that causes lung damage and can indirectly cause damage to other organs as well our body naturally makes cortisol in our adrenal glands specifically in the zona fasciculata of the adrenal cortex the adrenal gland then secretes cortisol into the bloodstream and the cortisol travels to different tissues of the body and then binds to the glucocorticoid receptor inside cells it then stimulates the cell to make more anti-inflammatory proteins and causes the cell to make less pro-inflammatory proteins but giving someone glucocorticoids meaning steroids to someone who has an infection is somewhat of a tricky thing because the fear is that if you suppress the body’s immune system it has the potential to make the infection worse. Sometimes the body’s immune system does more damage than the actual infection for example in cases of meningitis that is due to either streptococcus or tuberculosis we give steroids because the medical evidence shows that they have better outcomes when we do so and giving someone steroids for viral pneumonias like influenza is more controversial because doing so generally leads to worse infection with that said if the viral pneumonia is so bad to the point of causing severe ards most doctors will give steroids in that situation. So this is why, the general medical guidelines so far recommend against giving steroids for covert pneumonia unless the patient has severe ards and we’ve been waiting for randomized controlled trials to come out for steroids in covid and here we are now with this study so in march of 2020 the recovery trial which stands for randomized evaluation of covid-19 therapy was one of the randomized control trials that actually looked at several different potential treatments for covid which included low-dose dexamethasone this trial was done in the UK.

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Over 11 500 patients in it so this trial has not been peer reviewed as of has not been published in the journal yet so everything I know so far is based on what’s been released to the general public in this trial over 2100 patients were randomized to receive dexamethasone specifically six milligrams once per day for 10 days and this group was compared with over 4 300 patients that were randomized to the standard care alone so 6 milligrams of dexamethasone is the equivalent of 32 milligrams of methylprednisolone so this is about half the dose we would typically use for someone with severe ards so among the patients who received standard care alone 20-day mortality was highest in those who required mechanical ventilation this was 41 and then intermediate in those patients who required supplemental oxygen only this was mortality rate of 25 percent and the mortality rate was lowest among those who did not require supplemental oxygen in which that mortality rate was 13 for patients who were on mechanical ventilators dexamethasone reduced mortality from 41 percent to 28 percent for patients who needed supplemental oxygen it reduced mortality from 25 percent to 20 percent and there was no benefit among those patients who do not require supplement oxygen in other words if someone only had mild disease there was no point in giving dexamethasone so based on these results one death would be prevented by the treatment of around eight ventilated patients. So that’s the number needed to treat for ventilated patients and then the number needed to treat for the ones who required supplemental oxygen that number needed to treat would be 25 so these preliminary results are significant but it doesn’t mean that dexamethasone is a miracle drug it’s certainly not a cure but it does seem to help based on these numbers index and methazone could be of huge benefit and not just rich countries but poorer countries as well because this drug is very cheap and is widely available so this is great news and very exciting but there are still a lot of questions that need to be answered like what is the ideal dose should we use higher doses in patients who are mechanically ventilated with ards and when will it be approved for use in the united states and we’ll get these answers pretty soon now another.

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Interesting question is should we give decadron dexamethasone to people who have mild disease now even though this study didn’t show any benefit the reason why i bring this up is because some people start out with mild disease and then go on to have moderate or severe disease and we have no way of predicting who goes on to do that and also it happens very quickly lots of times someone could be doing just fine and then all of a sudden within hours they all of a sudden are deteriorating and they have severe disease so should we give those patients decadron regardless is there any harm doing so that’s another question that remains to be seen.

Corona Vaccine Update!!!

The situation in the world are very worse and so our hope for vaccine also. Scienticts are trying hard and hard to discover the vaccine. Scientist and pharma industry from all over the world are in danger in terms of health and wealth.

Here are some updates related to corona virus vaccine;

Moderna Therapeutics‘ invented mRNA-1273 vaccine prototypes which is heading towards success with high speed. The vaccine, is currently in its second phase of testing is more likely to be tested ahead on its third phase of clinical testing, Moderna therapeutics plans to involve about 30,000 participants between the ages of 18-55 and those who are at high risk of corona virus. If the trials are successful than it would be much relief for the people all around the world, by the time, Moderna promised to manufacture 100 million doses of the vaccine. The third phase of the testing is most likely to start in July.

Oxford University & AstraZeneca of Brazil which is worst affected country due to COVID-19 are jointly working to develop the corona virus vaccine. Once they tried to develop the vaccine but it failed in testing, now after much of research and time they again got hope and now they are soon ready to begin the trails on humans. To speed up the development of vaccine and minimizing the clinical trial time they are conducting both phase I and phase II trials at the same time.

Serum Institute of India (SII) India is also leading in development of  vaccine it has already tested for 18-55 age but side effects were observed and is again under development and testing. If India is able to development the vaccine first than India will become super nation as India will show to world that still India can do better in health sector and obvious youth is also at great potential so, ultimately it will attract many of the MNCs to India.

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