A COVID-19 vaccine is a vaccine intended to provide acquired immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), ...
A COVID-19 vaccine is a vaccine intended to provide acquired immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus causing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The world being amid a COVID-19 pandemic, the WHO and partners are working together to deploy safe and effective vaccines.
COVAX, the vaccines pillar of Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, convened by Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), the Vaccine Alliance (Gavi) and WHO aims to end the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic by :
- Speeding up the development of safe and effective vaccines against COVID-19,
- Supporting the building of manufacturing capabilities, and
- Working with governments and manufacturers to ensure fair and equitable allocation of the vaccines for all countries i.e. both higher-income and lower-income countries.
As of today, national regulatory authorities have granted authorizations for 12 vaccines, 6 of those have been approved for emergency or full use by at least one WHO-recognized stringent regulatory authority. At the same time, more than 200 additional vaccine candidates are in development, of which more than 60 are in clinical development.
In Nepal, the COVID-19 vaccination program was initiated on 27th January 2021. The government of India provided a donation of 10 million vaccine doses for the Nepalese population to prevent COVID-19. They provided the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine (AZD1222) in Nepal. The covishields which were developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University and manufactured by Serum Institute of India (SII) were received by Nepal. The recommended dosage is 2 doses given intramuscularly (0.5ml each) with an interval of 8 to 12 weeks. Additional research is needed to understand longer-term potential protection after a single dose.
The AZD1222 vaccine against COVID-19 has an efficacy of 63.09% against symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection. Longer dose intervals within the 8 to 12 weeks range are associated with greater vaccine efficacy.
The government of Nepal decided to start the first phase of mass vaccination, starting by immunizing health and security workers and inoculating over 400,000 people. The second phase of the vaccination campaign targeted those who are most vulnerable to developing severe illness from COVID-19 including the elderly and people with co-morbidities. The second phase also targeted teachers, as part of the expanded group of frontline workers. As of April 29, 2021, 2.9 million doses of vaccine against COVID-19 were given.
The Nepal government also approved the emergency use of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by an affiliate of China’s Sinopharm.
After the vaccination, people were asked to wait in the observation room for 30 min to check they may experience mild transient headaches, light-headedness and dizziness.
After 4 hrs of vaccination, some people complained about irritability in the mood.
After 6 hrs of vaccination, some complained of myalgia, nausea, tenderness at the injection site and feverish feeling.
After 12 hrs of vaccination, fever with chills developed which required paracetamol to resolve.
By the 2nd day of vaccination, fever and headache were resolved; however, myalgia and tenderness at the injection site persisted.
On the 3rd day, early morning awakening and head heaviness and tenderness at the injection site persisted.
It seems that such mild side effects are acceptable during COVID-19 vaccination as the body will need some time to adopt a vaccination dose and trigger the immune system to induce protective antibodies.
While pregnancy puts women at higher risk of severe COVID-19, very little data are available to assess vaccine safety in pregnancy, so they may receive vaccines if the benefit of vaccinating outweighs the potential vaccine risks.
So, the general people should be made aware of these minor side effects which are manageable with some symptomatic treatment like paracetamol to resolve the symptoms timely or such medicines should be taken as prophylaxis to avoid developing the post-vaccination symptoms and to decrease the psychological fear of any side effect of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination.
In the meantime, we must maintain and strengthen public health measures that are necessary for the time of COVID-19 Pandemic like wearing masks, maintaining physical distance, proper handwashing with soaps, using alcohol-based hand sanitizers, avoiding crowds, respiratory and cough hygiene and ensuring good ventilation in indoor spaces.
REFERENCES
1. Sah, R., Shrestha, S., Mehta, R. and Sah, S.K. (2021). AZD1222 (Covishield) Vaccination for COVID-19: Experiences, Challenges, and Solutions in Nepal. Travel Med Infect Dis. (40), 101989.
URL-2:https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/covid-19-vaccines?fbclid=IwAR2VkBhyWjNgLUb8gaVFpvpu-DZFGEig4qwsE45ntRSTm1iWi_f7Rk9P2bE URL-3:https://www.unicef.org/nepal/covid-19-vaccine-and-covax?fbclid=IwAR0pdePUcRrog33tR6ZE4amcI6VvGzKUlQRhZTkoMrA-1g2s3-nEX0rfoIU
What happens if person didn't given second dose?
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