European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

AN OVERVIEW ON COVID-19 VACCINES IN INDIA

Sanket S. Vyas*, Dr. Ojas Patel and Dr. Harsha Patel

ABSTRACT

This review article outlines the key concepts of differences between corona virus and flu and current status of vaccine discovery process in India. There is a new public health crises threatening the world with the emergence and spread of 2019 novel corona virus (2019-nCoV) or the severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).Corona viruses are enveloped positive sense RNA viruses ranging from 60 nm to 140 nm in diameter with spike like projections on its surface giving it a crown like appearance under the electron microscope; hence the name corona virus. The disease is transmitted by inhalation or contact with infected droplets and the incubation period ranges from 2 to 14 d. Influenza is an acute respiratory disease caused by the influenza A or B virus. It often occurs in outbreaks and epidemics worldwide, mainly during the winter season. Significant numbers of influenza virus particles are present in the respiratory secretions of infected persons, so infection can be transmitted by sneezing and coughing via large particle droplets. The mean duration of influenza virus shedding in immune competent adult patients is around 5 days but may continue for up to 10 days. The pandemic declaration of Covid-19 disease by World Health Organization (WHO) and subsequent widespread morbidities and mortalities in almost all countries of the world led to the research and development to find out a vaccine against SARS-CoV2 virus. Normally any new vaccine development takes 10–15 y time but the search for vaccine against SARS-CoV2 is going on at a very fast pace resulting in almost breakthrough in vaccine development by several research institutions and vaccine manufacturers. In India, there are three vaccine developers are currently working on vaccine discovery with large number of scientist. The article ends with the vaccine development phases and present scenario on development of corona vaccine in India and improves health outcomes through life course.

Keywords: Corona virus, Flu, Clinical stages, Vaccine status.