For which vaccine we should go for ? Covishield or Covaxin

Hello, I am Sangam Sharma and you're on Sangam Sharma Blogs.

When it comes to getting vaccinated against Covid,

you might be wondering one thing.

Which vaccine is the best?

If you get the option, should you choose Covaxin or Covishield?

Or should you wait for the Russian

or the made-in-US Pfizer vaccine?

Which of these vaccines have minimum side effects?

I would like to address all your questions and doubts regarding the vaccines in this Blog. 

For this Blog I take Reference from Many Doctors Live Interviews

Let's start with the question about the side effects.

Which type of side effects are commonly seen?

When we get any vaccine, the vaccinated area

may pain a little or get swollen.

These are known as the local side effects. And the other kind of side effects are the

Systemic Side Effects. These may include fever, headaches, many people feel fatigued. These last for a couple of days and then they're fine. In Pfizer and Moderna's mRNA vaccines these side effects are fewer after the first dose. But are more common after the second dose.  In the AstraZeneca vaccine, the side effects are more after the first dose. And few after the second dose. These are the common side effects but there are some rare side effects of the vaccines as well.

What percentage of people suffer from these common side effects approximately?

These are seen in 10-35% of people. For AstraZeneca, it is seen that this combination of fever and headache, etc. one out of three people may get this. The extremely rare and deadly side effects of Covishield Am I at a higher risk for getting the side effects if I have some pre-existing condition?

We have tried to find any risk factor that may cause one person to get a side effect more than another

but nothing like that has been identified yet. It is known as Idiosyncratic. We don't know whom it's going to affect. So there is no way of predicting. But now it seems like this might be a Class Effect.

It means that these might be seen in all the Adenovirus vectored vaccines. This is also seen in the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. So does Covaxin have any such side effects? We don't know yet,

millions of people haven't gotten this vaccine. So we don't know about it, it may crop up in future.

It may, but most of the inactivated vaccines are generally safe. Friends, all the vaccines can be divided into 3 categories based on how they work.

In the first category are the inactivated vaccines.

Like our Covaxin.

A virus is produced in a lab

and treated with chemicals to inactivate it.

It means that it isn't harmful to you. And then this virus is used as an

inactivated vaccine. This is how Covaxin works. The second category is the Viral Vector Vaccine.

Our Covishield and Russia's Sputnik V both belong to this category. Let's take Covishield as an example to see what is in it. In Covishield a Chimpanzee Adenovirus is taken. Adenovirus is the name of a family of viruses. The genetic code in the chimpanzee virus is replaced  with the genetic code of the SARS-COV2 virus. SARS-COV2 is the virus that causes Covid-19. So a chimpanzee virus that has the genetic code of SARS-COV2 works like a vaccine in your body. This is known as Viral Vector Vaccine.

Why?

Do you remember the word 'vector', friends?

Mosquitoes are often called vectors of dengue and malaria because these mosquitoes carry these diseases and infect us. Similarly, this chimpanzee virus works as a vector. It is getting into our bodies and infecting us with the SARS-COV2 genetic code. So that our body can build up immunity against it.

Russia's Sputnik V vaccine is also a viral vector vaccine. But instead of Chimpanzee Adenovirus

it uses Human Adenovirus. Lastly comes the third category of vaccines the mRNA vaccines. Like the Pfizer vaccine and Moderna vaccine. This photo is of the SARS-COV2 virus that causes Covid-19.

The red things coming out of the ball-shaped thing are called Spike Proteins. mRNA is taken from these Spiked Proteins and used to create the vaccines. All of you know that the human body has DNA. Similarly, viruses have RNA. And if you've studied biology in 11th and 12th,

you'd know that DNA is double-stranded and RNA is a single strand. mRNA means Messenger RNA.

mRNA is extracted from the Spike Protein and it acts as a vaccine in your body. So basically it's like mRNA vaccines, DNA vaccines and Vectored vaccines all these work by ensuring that the message reaches inside the cells. Instructing how to make the Spike Proteins. After reading this message, the cells make this protein.

So Cellular and Humoral (anti-body mediated) immunity are both developed by it.

Another major question that people ask is which vaccine should they choose if given a choice?

Covaxin or Covishield or

should they wait for Pfizer to arrive?

The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines will not come to India. If they come, that'll be through donations.

And that will be decided by the Government. So we wouldn't have any choice. The only choices will be Covishield and Covaxin. There will be no other vaccine till August or September.

-Russia's vaccine may...

-Gamaleya may...

Gamaleya may come but I don't know the number of doses that the Government will take.

How many doses will be imported?

How many doses will the Central Government take?

How many will the States purchase?

Will the private sector get any?

We have no clarity as of now.

If we think about the relative advantages and disadvantages

You will have to take 2 doses of Covaxin 4 weeks apart. The vaccine's effect will be after 6 weeks. The entire immunization will be complete and protection will start. And the interim data that we've seen till now indicated that there will be 81% protection. After taking only 1 dose of Covishield the protection is around 70%. For taking the second dose, it is better to delay it as it has better efficacy. We know this because there have been several immunogenicity studies in the UK. In which the immune response has been observed in detail. So it takes time to get both doses of Covishield. Because of the larger interval.

But you do get some protection after the first dose.

-And the first dose of Covaxin...

-Till now...

We don't know about the first dose because it hasn't been studied yet. So no data. And in the data of Covishield, we've seen very rare side effects but for Covaxin we don't know yet and nothing has come up either. This can be a comparison between the two. But obviously, people should take whichever they're getting. If we think about which vaccine should we take between Covishield and Covaxin,

We should get whichever we're getting. Another important question you might be wondering about is

should children be vaccinated as well?

With the age limit of 18 years, what will happen to the 17 or 16-year-old teenagers?

And even younger than them, what about the 10-12 year-olds?

Can they get the Covid infection?

Should they get vaccinated or not?

I think, ultimately everyone will need to get the vaccine. Even the children. But till now the license of the vaccines has been given for above 18 or for people above 16 years old. Pfizer's vaccine is for 16 and above. And the other vaccines are for 18 and above. Now Pfizer and Moderna are testing the vaccine on kids and the results are good. When tested on 12 and above, the vaccines worked properly. They conducted age descendant studies. This vaccine's evaluation on 2-years-old and 6-months-old babies will also be done. It is yet to be done but they will also have to be vaccinated. Even kids as young as this. Even newborn babies. Newborns will not need it. Because we know that lactating women who are immunized or who are infected they transfer antibodies. If we talk about people who have diabetes, asthma or high blood pressure,

Should they get vaccinated?

Everyone should get vaccinated. There is only one contraindication of not getting vaccinated that if you've taken the first dose which led to a reaction. Then the second dose should not be taken.

The reaction could be anaphylaxis or clotting or anything that you can directly relate to the vaccine.

Then the second dose of this vaccine should not be taken. But in general, if people have these other problems then getting vaccinated will not cause side effects or any harm to them?

No.

People who got a transplant, people who have arthritis, auto-immune disease or are going through chemotherapy, or completed chemotherapy , everyone should get vaccinated.

We need to remember that the immuno-compromised people Like the people who had chemotherapy or are undergoing long-term steroids treatment They need to be very careful because their immune response will not be okay. When they get vaccinated, they will get some protection, but it'll be lesser than normal.

Okay.

And there was some news that menstruating women should not take the vaccine. They should definitely take it.

And pregnant women?

When the vaccines were initially licensed for restricted use and emergency use then it was said that pregnant women and breastfeeding women should not be vaccinated. Because the vaccines haven't been tested on them. After that, the CDC provided guidance that if you are a healthcare worker and you're pregnant then you should discuss this with your healthcare provider. And then you should decide if you want to get vaccinated or not. And now we have the data of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines

and AstraZeneca's data will come soon, that these vaccines have been given to 35,000+ pregnant women and no side effects have been observed till now. So it means that it is safe for pregnant women also. The data we have till now about the women taking these vaccines in the second or third trimester

they have delivered their babies without any problem. Those who were vaccinated in the first trimester, their children haven't been born yet.

Oh, true.

But there's no reason to worry about that.

-Yes.

-It should be okay.

And the new strains that have emerged in South Africa, the UK, India Will all these vaccines work against all of these new strains? Till now we've seen that the UK strain is very transmissible

But all the vaccines are working properly. When these vaccines will be used on a very broad scale we'll come to know. But till now it seems that the vaccines are working. We have data from Israel.

In Israel, the Pfizer vaccine is being used. Taking only one dose of the Pfizer vaccine does not give protection. But after 2 weeks from the second dose, there aren't any infections of the South African strain.

What will happen if we take only 1 dose of the vaccine?

If we can't get the second dose because of the shortage. Then, wait for it.

How does one dose affect you?

It is something that I talked about in this previous Blog as well. The percentages for the Pfizer vaccine and the AstraZeneca vaccine are different. And the percentage increases with time.

What will happen if you've taken the first dose and then you got infected?

If you've gotten infected it is important that you know that these vaccines do work. If you get infected, then your symptoms will mostly be mild. Either there will not be any symptoms or they'll be mild.

So what'll happen to the second dose then?

Wait for some time and then get the second dose.

-So is there any set amount of time?

-Till now the...

That once the time passes after the recovery that we can take the second dose. Our government directs that after 2 weeks we should take the second dose. The second dose should be taken 2 weeks after recovery.

In my opinion, this interval should be longer. For Covaxin you should wait for 4 weeks.

And for Covishield wait for 8-12 weeks. I'm saying this because if you want as much immune response as can be possible There must be this gap. If you get vaccinated while you're infected it should have no effect. If you've tested positive and you have a vaccine appointment, then wait for some time before getting vaccinated. Wait for a minimum of 4 weeks. Take the vaccine after that. WHO's recommends that if there is a shortage of vaccines, you can wait for as long as 6 months. Because one round of infection protects you for 6-7 months. About 80% protection.

Will a person who has recovered from Covid have better immunity than a vaccinated person?

In my opinion, if they got infected and vaccinated both, then that is the best protection. The combination. And you may not even need the second dose. But we do not know this for sure till now.

We do know that if you got infected and produced antibodies and you're given the first dose of the vaccine, then there is a boost in the antibodies. But when the second dose is administered,

there is no further boosting. It has a plateauing effect. And then the second dose is useless but there are no negative effects either.

Yes.

I do hope friends that all your doubts regarding the vaccine have been cleared in this Blog.

If not, you can still ask me.

Write to me on sangamsharmablogs@gmail.com or Comment Down Below.

Second, be safe and wait for your turn to get vaccinated.

Let's meet in the next Blog friends.

Thank you.