Currently 15 vaccines are in use to get protection against COVID 19. Pakistan has approved five vaccines so far: AstraZeneca (Covishield and Vaxzevria), Cansino (Convidecia), Sinovac (CoronaVac), Sinopharm and Sputnik. Here we provide a brief overview of the type, manufacturer, dosage, route of administration and safety and efficacy of each vaccine candidate.
1. Covishield and Vaxzevria
Manufacturer: Oxford University and AstraZeneca
Vaccine type: Adenoviral vector vaccine
Route of administration: Intramuscular injection
Dosage: Two injections
Storage temperature: 2 to 8 °C
Age: 18 to 55 years of age
Authorized for use: It is first approved in UK and then various European and Asian countries including Pakistan later Europe, Indonesia, Canada, South Africa, Malaysia and Australia suspended its use due to various side effects.
Efficacy: 76.0% efficacious to prevent symptomatic COVID-19 infection after the first dose and 81.3% effective after the second dose.
Safety: Diarrhoea, vomiting, redness, swelling at the injection site and low levels of blood platelets occurred in less than 1 in 10 people.
Enlarged lymph nodes, dizziness, decreased appetite, sweating, sleepiness, abdominal pain, rash and itching occurred in less than 1 in 100 people.
In very rare cases (around 1 in 100,000 people) the vaccine can lead to blood clots in combination with low levels of blood platelets.
2. Convidecia
Manufacturer: Chinese company, CanSinoBio
Vaccine type: Adenovirus Type 5 Vector vaccine (Ad5-nCoV)
Route of administration: Intramuscular injection
Dosage: Single dose
Storage temperature: 2 to 8 °C
Age: Adults over the age of 18
Authorized for use: Convidecia is approved for use in China, Hungary Mexico, Chile and Pakistan
Efficacy: 65.7% efficacious at preventing moderate cases while 90.98% efficacious at preventing severe cases.
Phase 3 clinical trials of this vaccine are also conducted in Pakistan and revealed that vaccine is 74.8% efficacious at preventing symptomatic cases while 100% efficacious at preventing severe disease.
Safety: No serious adverse reactions are reported yet. However, as it uses adenoviral vector therefore, there is a probability that immune system would recognize this virus and develop immunity against the proteins of adenovirus instead of corona virus.
3. CoronaVac
Manufacturer: Chinese company Sinovac Biotech
Vaccine type: Inactivated virus COVID-19 vaccine
Route of administration: Intramuscular injection
Dosage: Two doses
Storage temperature: 2 to 8 °C
Age: 18 years and above
Authorized for use: Asia, Africa, Europe, North America, South America and Oceania
Efficacy: Efficacy varied between the studies from 50 to 90%
Safety: Philippines reported headache, elevated blood pressure, injection site pain, rash and dizziness as adverse effects of vaccine. Egypt areported minor side effects and Thammasat University, Thailand reported severe side effects such as fatigue, breathing difficulties, dizziness, partial body numbness, chest pains, muscle pains and facial spasms in nine nursing students.
Pakistan did not report any side effects of the vaccine.
4. Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine
Manufacturer: Sinopharm's Beijing Institute of Biological Products
Vaccine type: Inactivated virus COVID-19 vaccines
Route of administration: Intramuscular injection
Dosage: Two doses
Storage temperature: 2 to 8 °C
Age: 18 years and above
Authorized for use: Asia, Africa, Europe, North America, South America and Oceania
Efficacy: 79% efficacy for symptomatic and hospitalized cases.
Safety: Reported side effects include; fatigue, headache, injection site reactions, muscle ache, cough, joint pain, nausea, difficulty breathing, itchy skin and diarrhea.
Rare cases of nasal congestion, acute allergic reaction, drowsiness, lethargy and difficulty in sleeping were reported.
5. Sputnik V
Manufacturer: Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, Russia.
Vaccine type: Adenovirus viral vector vaccine for COVID-19
Route of administration: Intramuscular injection
Dosage: Two doses
Storage temperature: 2 to 8 °C
Age: 18 years and above
Authorized for use: In 67 countries including Pakistan, India and Turkey.
Efficacy: 91.6%
Safety: Brazil raised the issue that replicating virus is also present in Sputnik V lot, imported by Brazil, which poses safety concerns for this vaccines.
Till 1st April, 7,966 adverse reactions for Sputnik V vaccine were reported, 94% of which were mild while remaining 6% were considered severe.
Important note: AstraZeneca (Covishield and Vaxzevria), Cansino (Convidecia), Sinovac (CoronaVac) and Sinopharm are purchased by the government of Islamic Republic of Pakistan and available free of cost to all Pakistani citizen, aged 30 years of above.
Sputnik is purchased by private sector of Pakistan and available on cost in different private hospitals.
x
0 Comments