Covaxin Vs Covishield: The reason why Covaxin and Covishield are different from each other

By Lokmat English Desk | Published: January 6, 2021 06:19 PM2021-01-06T18:19:09+5:302021-01-06T18:19:09+5:30

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India has approved two vaccines — Covishield and Covaxin — for emergency use to fight Covid-19 pandemic in the country. The mass vaccination drive is likely to begin over the next few days. Covishield is the same vaccine that is being used in other countries including the UK. India’s approval for Covaxin is conditional as it is still “in the clinical trial mode”. Here is a comparison between the two Covid-19 vaccines approved in India:

Covaxin has been developed by the indigenous vaccine developer Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR).

Covishield has been developed by the Oxford University scientists in collaboration with the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca. In India, its trial was undertaken by the Serum Institute of India (SII), which is also manufacturing the Covishield vaccine for the mass vaccination drive.

Testing - In addition to animal tests, 800 volunteers participated in the first and second phase trials of Covaxin The third phase of the test was performed on 26,000 people. The Serum Institute has conducted first phase clinical trials on more than 23,745 volunteers. Its findings are said to be 70.42 per cent effective. Tests in the second and third phases have so far been conducted on 1,600 people

Efficacy- While Covaxin is still in the final stage of clinical trial and no efficacy rate has been made public for this Covid-19 vaccine, the efficiency of Covishield has been pegged at over 70 per cent. This efficacy rate is far below than the vaccines developed by Pfizer-NBiotech and Moderna, but it is above the qualifying efficacy benchmark of 50 per cent set by several countries.

Dosage - Both Covishield and Covaxin are two-dose Covid-19 vaccines. But in an interesting development that was considered as inadvertent error, the Covishield vaccine was found to show over 90 per cent efficacy if one and a half doses are given to the recipient. However, in India, the SII conducted trials using full two-shot doses during testing.

Vaccine Platform - Covidshield is a vaccine based on the chimpanzee adenovirus vector. This involves genetically modifying the virus that infects the chimpanzee so that the virus does not spread throughout the body. Part of this modified virus is corona toxin

Pricing - Though currently the government is controlling the vaccination drive against Covid-19, and it is free. Different reports have cited different prices for both the vaccines. The Covishield vaccine is reported to cost the government around Rs 400-450 or Rs 200-225 per dose.