Covaxin gets approval by DGCI for kids in 2-18 age group

Published: 18th Oct, 2021

Context

In a significant development, Bharat Biotech's COVID-19 vaccine, Covaxin, got DGCI's approval for usage on kids aged 2-18.

About

Important facts about Covaxin

Covaxin, India's indigenous COVID-19 vaccine by Bharat Biotech is developed in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) - National Institute of Virology (NIV).
The indigenous, inactivated vaccine is developed and manufactured in Bharat Biotech's BSL-3 (Bio-Safety Level 3) high containment facility.
The vaccine is developed using Whole-Virion Inactivated Vero Cellderived platform technology.
- Inactivated vaccines do not replicate and are therefore unlikely to revert and cause pathological effects.
  - They contain dead virus, incapable of infecting people but still able to instruct the immune system to mount a defensive reaction against an infection.
- The World Health Organization (WHO) is yet to grant emergency use authorisation to Covaxin.

What is Vaccine?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection.
A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic.
Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely.

Types of Vaccine

There are broadly four types of vaccine —
- Whole virus vaccine: A vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine)
- Non-replicating viral vector vaccine: A non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV
- Nucleic-acid vaccines: Nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine;
- Protein subunit vaccine: Protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

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