COVID Vaccine: Who will get coronavirus vaccine first in India?

COVID Vaccine: Corona warriors will be the first ones to get the COVID-19 vaccine after its launch. This was shared by Minister of State for Health Ashwini Kumar Choubey.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced during his Independence Day speech on August 15 that currently three corona vaccines are at various stages of testing in India. 

Globally, there are over 110 vaccine candidates that are in different stages of trial. Earlier this month, Russia announced the launch of the world's first coronavirus vaccine "Sputnik V". 

Who are Corona Warriors?

Corona warriors is a term used to define all those people who are engaged in different duties in India's battle against COVID-19. They include all the doctors, nurses, paramedics, sanitation workers and policemen who are risking their own lives to fight at forefront and save lives and treat COVID patients.

India's corona vaccine candidates:

1. COVAXIN: Covaxin has been produced by Bharat BioTech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the National Institute of Virology (NIV). The corona vaccine was the first one to be launched in India. 

2. ZyCOV-D: The COVID vaccine has been developed by Zydus Cadila, an Ahmedabad-based pharmaceutical company. The vaccine has been developed using DNA and recombinant measles virus strain.

Indian vaccines are at which stage of testing?

COVAXIN and ZyCOV-D both have entered phase II trials as of August 2020. The two vaccine candidates had entered phase I trials in early July. The vaccine candidates are one of the quickest to reach the mid-scale testing phase. 

Are the Vaccines effective?

The phase I trials of the two vaccines have found them to be safe and giving the required immune response.

When will the Indian corona vaccine be launched?

As per current reports, both Covaxin and ZyCOV-D are expected to be launched by early 2021.

Which is the third corona vaccine?

AZD1222 vaccine is the third vaccine, which will begin its trials in India soon. However, AZD1222 vaccine is not a homegrown vaccine. The vaccine has been developed by UK's Oxford University and AstraZeneca (multinational pharmaceutical company ). AstraZeneca has tied up with the Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) to produce doses of the vaccine. 

The Oxford vaccine was one of the first to enter the human trial stage. The vaccine is currently in its final trial stage. The Oxford vaccine has been found to be the safest yet by the World Health Organisation, as the vaccine reportedly offers double protection against the COVID-19 virus as per the results of the phase I trials.  

Background 

India plans to mass-produce the COVID-19 vaccine once scientists give a green signal. PM Modi has assured that the government has prepared a roadmap that will ensure that the COVID vaccine reaches every corner of the country in the shortest time possible once the scientists give the go-ahead.