Covishield vaccine: What you should know
The Oxford-AstraZeneca-Serum Institute 'Covishield' vaccine is all set to receive Emergency Use Authorisation in India. The Drugs Controller General of India will take a final call on the matter. A government-appointed panel has given the go-ahead to Covishield for emergency use. Here's what you should know about SII's vaccine.
FollowThe Oxford-AstraZeneca-Serum Institute 'Covishield' vaccine is all set to receive Emergency Use Authorisation in India. The Drugs Controller General of India will take a final call on the matter. A government-appointed panel has given the go-ahead to Covishield for emergency use. Here's what you should know about SII's vaccine.
The Vaccine: Covishield uses a replication-deficient chimpanzee viral vector based on a modified adenovirus virus (which causes the common cold) that contains genetic material from the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Vaccine dosage enables the immune system to attack the Covid-19 virus if it infects the body.
Cost: Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla had earlier already stated that vaccine will cost $3 (Rs 219) per dose for the Indian government while but for the private market it will cost around Rs 700-800. Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has announced that the Covid-19 vaccine will be available free of cost across the country.
Storage: The Covishield vaccine can be stored, transported and handled at normal refrigerated conditions (two-eight degrees Celsius) for six months and administered within existing healthcare settings.
Stocks: SII has already manufactured 100 million doses of the vaccine, under the at-risk manufacturing and stockpiling license from DCGI. The stock will be enough to vaccinate 50 million people.
Efficacy: The primary efficacy based on a pooled analysis showed that the vaccine was 70.4 per cent (confidence interval: 54.8 per cent to 80.6 per cent) effective. Two doses administered with an interval of between four and 12 weeks showed clinical trials to be safe and effective at preventing symptomatic COVID-19, with no severe cases and no hospitalisations more than 14 days after the second dose.
