We all are waiting for one good news to have the COVID-19 vaccine all set and ready. It has been more than 6 months we all are struggling to keep ourselves safe from the coronavirus. With the passing days, life is getting more difficult and scarier as most of the countries have resumed their business operation to withstand the economic fall. People need to carry on with their work with the new normal way of social distancing and masking.
Russia’s Claim to Develop First COVID-19 Vaccine
With the researchers and scientists working around the clock trying their best to produce the COVID-19 vaccine in order to end the pandemic, Russia becomes the first to develop the vaccine against SARS-COV-2.
The President of Russia, Vladimir Putin announced on Tuesday, Russia has been able to successfully develop COVID-19 Vaccine to provide sustainable immunity against the coronavirus. This vaccine is developed by Moscow’s Gamaleya Institute, and claims to have passed all the test and is completely safe to use against coronavirus. Vladimir Putin asserted their COVID-19 vaccine has undergone all the required stages of examinations and have passed successfully, and is now ready as the world’s first-ever COVID-19 vaccine. He also added one of his daughters has been given this vaccine making her a part of this experiment. Russia is planning to start mass production of the COVID-19 vaccine by the end of October of this year.
Though many experts and WHO are not so convinced with Russia’s COVID-19 vaccine. WHO has requested Russia to follow all the necessary guidelines properly to produce a safe vaccine for the world. Russia’s vaccine was not among the list of WHO’s six vaccines, which have reached stage 3 and are involved with mass human testing. WHO has recommended Russian authorities to review their vaccine with few more test phases.
What do we know about Russia’s COVID-19 vaccine?
Though President Putin has not clarified much about the vaccine, all he said is the vaccine is very much effective and safe. He also mentioned one of his daughters who were injected had experienced some temperature surge for some time but again it is back to normal. The first COVID-19 vaccine developed by Moscow’s Gamaleya Institute adapted scientific techniques to use strains of adenovirus, which is responsible for causing common cold in humans to trigger an immune response against coronavirus. The Russian scientist said all the early stages of trials have been conducted and the results were successful. Though this approval came before the stage 3 trial which involves a wide range of people to be tested for human trials. Despite this incomplete crucial phase 3 testing, the health ministry of Russia claimed the Russian COVID-19 vaccine to be effective and safe. Russian officials named their vaccine as Sputnik V, after the world’s first satellite Sputnik I, launched by the Soviet Union. They have addressed their victory of developing the first-ever COVID-19 vaccine to be the same as their success in the space race of launching the world’s first satellite.
Why Experts are not convinced with the Russia’s COVID-19 vaccine?
The first clinical trial of the COVID-19 vaccine in Russia started on the 17th of June, which was way after the US, China, and Europe. Russia is fast-tracking the vaccine at an unrealistic pace, where many countries being close to phase 3 testing are still reviewing and examining their Vaccine’s effectiveness and safety. Russia’s Sputnik V has not completed the phase 3 trials, which is considered very much important to analyze its impact on a wide range of people and also to check for side effects if any. More than 135 vaccines across the globe are being worked upon to build the ultimate warrior for coronavirus. Out of this, only 8 vaccines have reached Phase 3 and only 2 are standing in the final approval stage. None of them have been to date able to show complete protection against the disease. As per experts’ comment on Russia’s COVID-19 vaccine, being first is not the deal, developing a vaccine to rule out all the possibilities of coronavirus safely and effectively is what we need.
5 Other Promising COVID-19 Vaccines
Phase 3 trials are the most important ones in the vaccine testing cycle. This involves vaccinating thousands of people from different age groups and conditions and observing the response of the vaccine on them. This stage is efficient in identifying even a minor rare side effect which might not have been detected in the early stages of development. If 50% of the vaccinated people show positive results, only then the vaccine will be considered effective.
Here are a few other promising vaccines being developed for COVID-19.
1. AstraZeneca-University of Oxford
This vaccine is being developed by the British University in collaboration with AstraZeneca, a pharmaceutical company. It is using a weakened version of an adenovirus infecting Chimpanzees, which is genetically engineered with spike proteins to recognize the coronavirus in the human body and act against it. Phase 3 trials have started in Brazil which involves 5000 volunteers. Another parallel phase 3 testing is expected to happen in the U.K. with 10,500 volunteers and in the US as well along with 30,000 volunteers.
2. Sinovac Biotech- Beijing
This potential COVID-19 vaccine also known as ‘PicoVac‘ is being developed by Beijing based pharm, Sinovac Biotech. It is said to be made up of an inactive SARS-COV-2 virus, which is a dead version of the pathogen to fight against the live coronavirus if found in the body. This vaccine is more similar to the Hepatitis A vaccine which gives protection for a limited period of time unless shots are given at regular intervals. PicoVac is conducting phase 2 trials combined with phase 3 by examining the response of the vaccines on people of different age groups. As per the data reports, 90% of the vaccinated volunteers have developed antibodies against the virus without any side effects.
3. Moderna-U.S. Biotech
This vaccine is developed by U.S Biotech company Moderna in collaboration with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and is named as ‘mRNA-1273‘. This vaccine was the first to be tested on humans. The technique used for developing this vaccine is quite different and unique from all other traditional vaccine methods. This vaccine is being generated using a genetically engineered material called messenger RNA or mRNA, which when injected in the human body will trigger to build viral proteins called spike proteins to strengthen immunity when the body gets exposed to coronavirus. It is studied if this vaccine passed all the levels it will be easier and quicker to manufacture this in large volumes, unlike traditional vaccines which depend on pathogens to grow and inactivate. Phase 3 testing for this COVID-19 vaccine has been started involving 30,000 volunteers and the results from these results are awaited by November of this year.
4. CanSino Biologics- Beijing Institute
This vaccine is developed by CanSino Biologics along with the Beijing Institute of Technology. Unlike the Oxford vaccine, this works with weakened adenovirus that infects humans. So far the studies showed positive results on people with mild symptoms of fever, fatigue, and pain. It has been successful in developing T-cell responses and neutralizing antibodies. They will now be starting the phase 3 trials outside China on a larger population.
5. Pfizer BioNTech- Germany
Pfizer pharma along with a German biotechnology company is developing a COVID-19 vaccine similar to Moderna using messenger RNA. This would work with mRNA to trigger the immune system to identify the coronavirus when exposed. As per the test reports, the vaccine has been able to trigger the immune system by producing antibodies against the coronavirus which is 1.8-2.8 times higher than the level generated in COVID recovered patients. This vaccine has also been able to generate T-cells specific to the coronavirus. This has started human trials and will begin phase 3 testing on a large scale by end of this month.
Also Read: Click on the link to know more about the safety essentials require to travel during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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