A cure for the pandemic
Ever since COVID 19 put a grip on our lives, all nations in the world have been striving to find a vaccine. We all know that the deadly disease caused by coronavirus has no known cure. Some believe that home remedies work to some extent to ease the symptoms. However, the doctors cannot use any specific medicine to kill the virus once it is inside the body. Therefore an effective vaccine is the only ray of hope that can take us back to normal life. By the time it was August 2020, 231 possible vaccines were developed over the globe. Out of these, only 24 vaccine candidates had been undergoing clinical trials.
The trials which include phase I, II and III puts these candidates to some serious tests. As of today, six vaccines have entered phase III while 18 of them are still in the first two steps. It is during this crucial time that Russia announced the approval of their vaccine named Sputnik V. On August 11 2020, Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia announced the approval of the vaccine. He declared that the country has developed the first COVID 19 vaccine in the world. The team performed Sputnik V vaccine tests on a collection of volunteers in Russia. The results demonstrated that they were acquiring immunity to the coronavirus.
He proudly declared that this gives hope not only to Russia but for the entire world. They named the vaccine Sputnik V after the famous Soviet satellite of the same name. Putin has even gone an extra mile and tested the vaccine on his own daughter. The country plans to begin mass vaccination by October 2020. While the whole planet looks forward to a better fate, let’s take a glance at the fundamental aspects you need to realize about this vaccine.
What exactly is the vaccine?
Before you know what a vaccine is, you must get to know what an antibody is. When any foreign entities enter the body, our white blood cells react by creating antibodies, which are protein atoms. These antibodies battle the intruder known as an antigen and ensure against further contamination. A healthy individual can create a large number of antibodies daily, battling contamination so effectively that they never at any point realize they came in contact with an antigen.
However, when the body faces a specific foreign substance for the first time, it can take a few days to gain this immune response. For extremely dreadful antigens like the measles infection or whooping cough disease, even a few days of delay can be life-threatening. The contamination can spread and slaughter the individual before they develop the resistance. This situation is where a vaccine can become a blessing. The vaccine helps the body to battle ailment without presenting it to the disease’s side effects.
The scientists are trying to create vaccines from dead or debilitated antigens developed from the other forms of coronavirus. The vaccine can’t cause any severe symptoms of the disease. But the white blood cells consider them to be a hostile body and produce antibodies accordingly. After the danger has passed, a considerable lot of the antibodies will separate. However, immune cells called memory cells stay in the body. The next time that the person comes in contact with that particular antigen, the memory cells produce antibodies quickly. As a result, our body will be equipped to put an end to the deadly pathogen before it is past the point of lethality.
Russia’s path towards success
It was on June 18, 2020, that Russia permitted clinical trials of two types of a potential Covid-19 vaccine. The Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology had created the vaccine. They made the first variant as a solution for intramuscular administration and carried out the trials at the Burdenko Military Hospital. The succeeding one was in the form of a compound which is to be prepared as a solution that can be administered in the same way. They completed its trials at Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University.
The primary phase of trials for the vaccine at Sechenov University included a gathering of 18 volunteers and the next gathering included 20 volunteers. After immunization, the University asked all volunteers to stay in isolation in a clinic for 28 days. The data from the trials could show that candidates from the first and second batches were developing an immune reaction after they were given the vaccine.
The Russian COVID 19 vaccine comprises two parts. The first one is a benign adenovirus, a ‘rocket transporter’ that conveys the following part. The second unit is a piece of the COVID-19 genome, which they called the ‘orbital station’. However, while the human body is able to develop an immune reaction to both the ‘carrier’ and the ‘station’, it just gives a momentary effect. Therefore, the person will have to take a second shot of the vaccine to make the protection more lasting. A similar ‘orbital station’ is conveyed into the body three weeks after the fact, utilizing another ‘transporter’. Therefore, the body doesn’t create solid resistance to both of the adenoviruses, yet frames a solid safeguard against the coronavirus.
Objections against the Russian vaccine
The Russian vaccine’s clinical trials did not complete the certain stages of the process. It would regularly include a large number of members, normally known as Phase III. This phase of the clinical trial is generally viewed as fundamental forerunners for a vaccine. It ensures that it is safe for large scale administration. Since the Sputnik V vaccine has not yet completed the final stages, a few researchers are concerned. They said that they are afraid Moscow might be putting global recognition before health risks.
A review of 3,040 doctors and specialists by the “Doctor’s Handbook” indicated that 52 per cent of them were not willing to receive the vaccine. On the other hand, 24.5 per cent said they would give their consent to receive the immunization. Only about 20 per cent of the doctors said that they would refer the vaccine to their patients. A few Russians even stated that they were too scared to even think about trying the antibody. However, others concur with their government and believe that any doubt voiced by foreign specialists and doctors is driven by envy.
Moreover, the government of Russia has guaranteed that its super-fast vaccine was easily formed because of the way that its Covid-19 antibody resembles the one for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) sickness. This disease was brought about by another coronavirus that had just undergone large scale testing. Russia has also agreed to release the Sputnik vaccine trial details to WHO (1) by 17 August 2020.
