COVID vaccines: A step towards ending the pandemic

Abstract

COVID-19 pandemic has been associated with increased morbidity, mortality and economic loss globally. In the absence of definitive treatment, the only way to develop herd immunity and to curtail the spread of infection is through an effective vaccination programme. Under normal circumstances, a vaccine development would have taken 8–12 years; however, in case of COVID vaccine, this process has been reduced to 10 months. Since the lockdown, multiple countries have used various platforms to develop COVID vaccines at a war footing and recently close to five vaccines that have been approved for emergency use. This has lead to confusion, controversy and debate among the medical fraternity about the safety and efficacy of these vaccines. This articles gives an overview of the vaccines present, various trial results and adverse effects seen till now.

Keywords

• adverse effects
• covaxin
• covid vaccine
• covishield