Science in action: Is it the end of coronavirus?

Science is the cognitive thought of a pack of beings. It will never stop being pursued even if ONE wants it to. The progression of science is to mold it into something new every day. Science is always intriguing when it is new.

The coronavirus pandemic struck the global earth population like the plague in a rat's nest. Today, an year after the origin of this invisible enemy, after millions lost their life in the spike of this universal antagonist, there is a ray of hope that everyone has been eagerly waiting for. Science has paved its research into a source of global calm. Vaccines are in their final stages of approval and have already begun being administered to the global population in order to prepare the human immune system to wage the bloody war. Several preventive-cure, vaccines for the COVID pandemic have been brought to light.

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Popular vaccines in order of their approval and human administration are:

1. Sputnik V - (DNA of a SARS-CoV-2 type adenovirus)

    Research: Gamaleya Research Institute, Russian defense ministry

2. Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine - (mRNA)

    Research: Pfizer

    News: Accepted as the world's first [link]

    FDA approval [link]

3. CoronaVac/ China's Sinovac Vaccine - (inactivated)

    Research: Sinovac Biotech

    News: 50.4% effective [link]

4. Covisheild - (Non-Replicating Viral Vector)

    Indian local version of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 Vaccine

    Research name: AZD1222 (ChAdOx1)

    Research: University of Oxford, AstraZeneca

    Mass manufacturer: Serum Institute of India

5. Covaxin [Final stages of approval] - (Inactivated)

    Research and manufacture: Bharat Biotech 

    Research name: BBV152

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So what does it mean for the coronavirus? 

The whole vaccination program underway in just India (18% of the world population) is expected to take more than an year. The program is also dependent on the world's largest mass producer of vaccines, Serum institute of India. Vaccinating people all across the globe will probably take a much longer duration since the rate of manufacturing is also fixed for now. The semi-theoretical efficacy of Covisheild, the best-effective-known vaccine till date (on an optimistic thought) is about 70-90% [link]. Assuming that a large population of the world does vaccinate themselves effectively by completing the booster doses, A large population of people will be safe and protected. 

However, this tricky virus is not easy to eradicate. Within the duration of less than an year, we have already observed three other variants that are quite more effective than the first known SARS-CoV 2 strain. More about this later. For now, humans need to understand that the vaccines do not mark the end of the corona wave. Nature's wrath is still afoot. Everyone should stand tall and support the scientific community leaving politics behind and pushing humanity forward.

 

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