With human trials ongoing for two potential vaccines, India joins the global race to fight back the global pandemic, but first comes the safety and efficacy.
A recent study of MIT predicts that given the size of India’s population, we may have as many 270,000 cases a day by February 2021. This could eventually make us the worst affected country in the world if no vaccine is found.
Novel Coronavirus that has affected over 12 million people in 213 countries and territories and is liable for quite half 1,000,000 deaths, at last count. In India alone there quite 17 lakh cases with over 36,000 deaths putting us in the position of being no. 3 in the list of top worst-affected countries.
In the newest reports COVID - 19 is proving to be less fatal- killing but two people out of each 100 affected but it's much more widespread and resilient. With the number of cases on the increase, death rate continuing to mount, and no sure short drugs to cure the disease for far, the medical and pharmaceutical institutions across the globe are working to each day and night to seek out a cure for this widespread. Recent WHO reports say that there are 136 potential candidates for the vaccine development with 21 of them having reached the human trial stage. Two Indian companies- the Hyderabad based Bharat biotech and Zydus Cadila have joined the race with the Indian government giving the green flag to their respective vaccines. Four other Indian institutions, inclusive of Pune- based serum institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, are in the key advanced stage of the vaccine research.
However, questions are being raised over India’s fanatical efforts when ICMR the country's foremost medical research agency broke the news of India’s two firms and their collaborators to form sure that phases 1 and a couple of trails are going to be completed by 15th August.
“It will take a minimum of 18 months to 2 years even in an emergency like situation. what's dangerous is that the practice of drug controllers shortchanging on procedures to unveil during a hurry.” - K.I Varaprasad Reddy, chairman, Shantha Biotechnics, Hyderabad.
The pushback to the Indian Scientific community is valid considering lessons from the past. There are hits and misses within the development of vaccines. allow us to take the instance of influenza vaccines which was the closest parallel battle to COVID-19. In 1976, fearing a recurrence of influenza, the United States government under president Ford launched the national influenza immunization program and drew up plans to vaccinate the whole population. But after reports came as a thunderclap claiming one in every 10,000 vaccinated people developing the intense nervous disorder. Henceforth there's risk related to it and countries got to prioritize the security first and need transparent about identical. Despite this many doubt the development of vaccines before early 2021. Another major think about making the vaccine is that there has been a leap in vaccine technology. Most of them work on the essential principle of defanging the virus then injecting into the physical body to supply the antibodies to create immunity. Bharat Biotech is using an inactivated COVID-19 virus injected into the physical body to supply antibodies and act as an immunity booster. Inactivated vaccines have proved to be a hit in the time of polio and rabies. But again to fight COVID-19 inactivated vaccines accompany their own disadvantages. Fingers are raised towards its safety and efficacy. we need to specialize in the development and safety of the vaccine, not sort of a race to who develops the vaccine the primary. focusing on this a crucial question that arises is whom you prioritize as in the initial stage we anticipate having limited stock. The vaccine may be Indian or foreign the main concern raises for equitable distribution and pricing, this is something global health organizations are worried about. Middle-income countries are going to be the foremost vulnerable if equitable distribution and collaboration on the worldwide level aren’t ensured. Indian isn't only in the process of developing the vaccines but also the logistics and cold chain required to deliver them safely to the general public just in case of the success of an equivalent.
So, given the complications and therefore the long gestation required to develop a vaccine should we be enthused by the flurry of worldwide activity to seek out one? the sole good news about COVID-19 is that it's a relatively simple and stable virus that creates the task of developing a vaccine easier. “COVID is mutating almost thousand times slower than the influenza virus and India now has the strains which most companies in the west are also developing a vaccine for”- Dr. Rakesh Mishra, director of CSIR, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research.
Write-up by: Devanshi Vadia
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