COVISHIELD

COVISHIELD

Subject : Science & tech

Context : India’s drug regulator has allowed the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to be used for up to nine months from its manufacture date, as opposed to the prescribed six months, according to a document reviewed by Reuters.

Concept :

COVISHIELD:

• It is the name given to an Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine candidate which is technically referred to as AZD1222 or ChAdOx 1 nCoV19.
• It is a version of the vaccine developed by the University of Oxford in collaboration with Swedish-British drugmaker AstraZeneca.
• Serum Institute of India (SII) is the manufacturing partner in India.

Constituents and Action:

• It is based on a weakened version of a common cold virus or the adenovirus that is found in chimpanzees.
• This viral vector contains the genetic material of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein (protrusions) present on the outer surface of the virus that help it bind with the human cell.
• The body’s immune system is supposed to recognise this protein as a threat, and work on building antibodies against it.

Significance:

• It had triggered an immune response in humans against the novel coronavirus in early trials and is considered to be one of the global frontrunners for the Covid-19 vaccine.