Covishield, Covaxin, Sputnik V, J&J, Moderna: Know your vaccine

With the approval of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine, India now has four vaccines for emergency use. The other four are AstraZeneca's Covishield, Bharat Biotech's Covaxin, Russia's Sputnik V and Moderna .

Here's a lowdown on the approved vaccines:

COVISHIELD

CREATORS: Covishield is developed by Oxford University and is currently being produced by the Serum Institute of India.

COURSE: The vaccine course consists of two doses, 0.5 ml each, and is being actively administered in the country. The Indian government recommends a 12-16 week gap between both doses. So far, around 73 crore doses have been administered in India. 

ADMINISTRATION: The vaccine is administered as an intramuscular (IM) injection only in the deltoid muscle.

HOW IT WORKS: Covishield uses a viral vector made of a weakened strain of the common cold virus (adenovector) found in chimpanzees. The common cold virus contains genetic material that is similar to the Covid-causing novel coronavirus. When administered, the immune system recognises the spike protein and begins creating antibodies. (Read more here.)

COVAXIN

CREATORS: Covaxin was developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research, and is exclusively produced by Bharat Biotech. 

COURSE: Covaxin is also a two-dose vaccine. The Indian government recommends a 4-week gap between doses, and 9 crore doses have been administered in the country so far. 

ADMINISTRATION: Covaxin is administered as an injection into the deltoid muscle of the upper arm.

HOW IT WORKS: The vaccine is developed using “Whole-Virion Inactivated Vero Cell” derived platform technology. Inactivated vaccines do not replicate, and are therefore unlikely to revert and cause pathological effects. They contain dead virus; incapable of infecting people but still able to instruct the immune system to mount a defensive reaction against an infection.

SPUTNIK V

CREATORS: The Sputnik V vaccine has been developed by Moscow's Gamaleya Institute. In India, Dr Reddy Labs is manufacturing Sputnik V in association with Russian Direct Investment Fund and Panacea Biotech. The Serum Institute of India has also received the DCGI nod to produce Sputnik V.

COURSE: The vaccine is an adenoviral-based, two-part vaccine. As per the CoWIN website, 9 lakh doses have been administrated in the country.

ADMINISTRATION: Sputnik V is injected into the upper arm.

HOW IT WORKS: Sputnik V uses a weakened virus to deliver small parts of a pathogen and stimulate an immune response. The first vaccination leads to humoral cellular immunity, and once a second vaccination is administered, memory cells are formed. (Read more here.)

JOHNSON AND JOHNSON

CREATORS: The Johnson and Johnson vaccine was developed by the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson. India is expected to receive as many as 43.5 million doses starting October 2021.

COURSE: The Johnson and Johnson vaccine is a single dose vaccine.

ADMINISTRATION: The vaccine is an intramuscular injection in the deltoid muscle (the upper arm).

HOW IT WORKS: "The J&J vaccine teaches the immune system to attack the protein that causes the coronavirus to infect other cells," explains Healthline.

MODERNA

CREATORS: The Moderna vaccine was developed by its namesake, Moderna Inc . India has approved of Moderna yet is still to begin administration. 

COURSE: Moderna is a two dose vaccine. 

ADMINISTRATION: The vaccine is injected in the deltoid muscle (the upper arm).HOW IT WORKS: Moderna uses mRna to teach the immune system to prevent infection from the coronavirus The mRna gives the body's muscles to create a harmless piece of the virus known as "spike protein". The immune system then creates antibodies in respose to this piece.