The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine Covishield is being manufactured locally by the Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer. Successful clinical trials have been conducted in S.Africa, Brazil, and the UK with bridging study results in the Indian population based on which the approval was granted by DCGI (Drugs Controller General of India).
Side effects of Covishield vaccine
One in four people experience mild, short lived systemic side effects after receiving Covishield vaccine according to a study published in the Lancet Infectious Diseases journal.
Systemic effects included headache, fatigue, chills and shiver, diarrhoea, fever, arthralgia, myalgia, and nausea. Local side effects — meaning side effects where the injection took place in the arm — included pain at the site of injection, swelling, tenderness, redness, itch, warmth and swollen armpit glands. Most of these side effects are mild and temporary (subside within 2-3 days) that subside on their own.
Risks
A single shot of the AstraZeneca-Oxford Vaccine (known as Covishield in India) is capable of reducing the risk of death in the recipient by a whopping 80 percent, reveals new study data. The data was released by Public Health England recently.
On April 16, German chancellor Angela Merkel took the AstraZeneca shot. On April 1, German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier had also taken it. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson took it last month. If it is good for them, it is probably good enough for the rest of us.
There has been some concerns regarding blood clots. However, the national committee that monitors Covid-19 vaccine side effects has said that the risk of blood clots (thromboembolic events) post Covid-19 vaccination, particularly in the case of Serum Institute’s Covishield, is very low in India.
Efficacy
Covishield has an overall efficacy of 70 per cent, but it can be over 90 per cent when administered as a half dose followed by a full dose a month later.
Preliminary results of a study revealed that the two COVID vaccines currently being used in India – Covishield and Covaxin – showed efficacy against the ‘double mutant’ or the ‘India strain’ of coronavirus and displayed milder form of infection post vaccination, Director of Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB) Anurag Agrawal said on Tuesday, 27 April. This was reported by The Quint.
Coronavirus Vaccines in India
Three coronavirus vaccines have been approved for use in India till date by the Government of India. They are Covishield (Oxford-AstraZeneca), Covaxin (Bharat Biotech) and Russia’s Sputnik V (Gamaleya).
