Covidshield vs Covaxin: What is there to Know About

After a long wait finally the day has arrived for administering the two vaccines for prevention against Covid-19. One vaccine is made by Oxford-AstraZeneca called Covishield and another by Bharat Biotech called Covaxin for emergency use authorization. However, due to a lot of confusion it is difficult for common man to understand what these are and how these vaccines are effective against Coronavirus. Let us understand about these two vaccines.

Covidshield vs Covaxin

Covishield

• Developed by British-Swedish pharma company AstraZeneca in collaboration with University of Oxford.
• It is an emergency use vaccine that is to be given to people attained 18 years or age or above.
• It is said to be 90-95% effective provided two shots administered between 2-3 months of gap in dose 1 and dose 2.
• Highly effective and successful vaccine against the virus and that makes it most sought after vaccine. Additionally, this vaccine as covered all stages of trial prior to roll out.

Covaxin

• Indian Biotechnology Company called Bharat Biotech along with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has developed Covaxin.
• It is said to be the inactivated vaccine where inactivated viruses are administered via injection in the body of the person.
• This is done to trigger the right immune response to develop immunity against the virus.
• Effectiveness and success rate of this vaccine is yet to be confirmed with the authorities.

Is vaccination compulsory?

Vaccination is absolutely as per the consent of the person provided with a consent form to let the medical practitioner administer in the body.

Vaccination is not mandatory or compulsory as per government declaration; it is on the individual who would like to seek the dosage of the vaccine.

It is essential to understand that authorized hospitals and government approved hospitals are given permission to administer the vaccine. Beneficiaries seeking the vaccine are provided with proper care in case they suffer any side effects as a result of Covaxin.

It is to be understood that the public is not given a choice to seek one vaccine over another, it is as per government rules and as per the authorities that the vaccine administered will either be Covidshield or Covaxin.