Covishield likeliest to be India's guard against Covid: Know all about the Oxford vaccine 

subject expert committee (SEC) of India's drug regulator on Friday gave its recommendation to Oxford-AstraZeneca-Serum Institute 'Covishield' vaccine for emergency use. Post a final assent from DCGI, this would pave way for vaccine's rollout in India which, after United States, has highest number of coronavirus infections in world. Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan has reviewed preparedness for mega vaccination dry run that has got underway on Saturday. India has also allowed import and export of Covid-19 vaccines without any value limitation.

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More than 50 million doses of Covishield vaccine have alrey been stockpiled by its India manufacturer, Serum Institute of India (SII), and sources said shots could start to be transported from cold stor to all states as early as Saturday. Large parts of planning for Oxford vaccine has been done well in vance, with ar Poonawalla having taken a bet on Oxford candidate months before it even went into clinical trials.

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Here's everything you need to kw about Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine 

Efficacy:  Oxford-AstraZeneca-SII Covishield vaccine's efficacy in preventing symptomatic infections was 70.4 per cent as 30 of 5,807 people who got two-dose vaccine developed COVID-19, compared with 101 of 5,829 people who got a placebo, in clinical trials. 

For participants who received two full doses at least one month apart, vaccine efficacy was 62%, and in those who received a low dose followed by a full dose, efficacy was 90%.

Cost: Serum Institute of India CEO ar Poonawalla has said earlier that for Government of India, price of vaccine will be about USD 3 per dose, so USD 6 [Rs 440] per person, but for private market it will cost around Rs 700-800. 

Stor: vaccine could be kept at rmal refrigerator temperatures, between 2 and 8 degrees celsius. In comparison, Moderna vaccine needs to be stored at -20 degree Celsius and Pfizer/BioNTech product must be kept at -70 degree Celsius. 

Techlogy: vaccine entails a version of a virus that usually infects chimpanzees and has been modified with a portion of COVID-19 called "spike protein" to fire immune system. Once it enters human cells, vaccine would help stimulate production of antibodies that recognize virus.

Safety: According to Lancet, a medical publication, Oxford's COVID-19 vaccine is safe and efficacious against symptomatic coronavirus disease. safety was monitored for a median of 3.4 months in all 23,745 participants from UK, Brazil and South Africa. Out of 23,745 participants, 168 experienced a total of 175 severe verse events over period, but 172 events were unrelated to COVID-19 or control vaccines.

Doses: world's biggest producer of vaccines (Serum Institute of India), has alrey stockpiled about 50 million doses, eugh for 25 million people. 

Approval in UK: On December 30, Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine was authorized for emergency use in United Kingdom (UK). It has been given go-ahe by Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory ncy (MHRA). It is second vaccine to be approved in UK after Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was given go-ahe in December. UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock anunced on Wednesday that Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine will be rolled from January 4 across Britain.

SII h applied to Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) for EUA for Oxford COVID-19 vaccine on December 6, while Hyderab-based Bharat Biotech h sought d for its indigeusly developed Covaxin on December 7.

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(With ncy Inputs)