After spending more than one year in this pandemic, finally it seems like it is somehow under control. It would not have been possible without the Covid-19 vaccines that are helping to develop an immunity against the virus before being invaded by it. A lot of vaccines are now available all of which are approved and authorized for public usage by the main health regulatory body. skeptical at first but people have finally accepted the vaccines and started to trust the government over the vaccination programs, hoping it would be an end to the pandemic. However, with so much variety in vaccines available, it is easy to get confused, suspecting any vaccine to be less effective or more effective, which is why knowing about the key differences in Covid-19 vaccines is essential.
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Given the magnitude of Covid-19 cases and deaths and the limited number of vaccine production, getting a vaccine of your choice is not really an option. However, it doesn’t mean that you should stop reading about them or learn the differences between all available Covid-19 vaccines.
Besides, learning these Covid-19 vaccine differences gives everyone an idea about what he is getting and what could possibly go wrong in case he experiences an unusual effect.
Almost all vaccines are designed for the same principle of exposing the body to the viral or bacterial particle that is causing a disease. This exposure is controlled and made with an attenuated or modified organism, which introduces the body to the pathogen but the pathogen is not generally powerful enough to invade the body or start an infection. That’s why vaccines are safe and there is no concern regarding their ability to initiate the same disease, against which they are designed. This same applies to all currently available Covid-19 vaccines irrespective of their differences.
Basically, there are four types of Covid-19 vaccines, and there are not many differences that they share. For example, they differ with the exposure method that they use for the body.
Global Covid-19 Vaccines
- QazVac (Kazakhstan)
- EpiVacCorona (Russia)
- Sputnik V (Russia)
- CoviVac (Russia)
- SinoPharm (China)
- CoronaVac (China)
- Minhai (China)
- Convidecia (China)
- Zifivax (China)
- Covaxin (India)
- Johnson & Johnson (Netherlands)
- Oxford- AstraZeneca (UK)
- Moderna (USA)
- Pfizer-BionTech (USA)
Differences Between Covid-19 Vaccines
- RNA Covid-19 Vaccine- Pfizer-BionTec, Moderna
- Inactivated Covid-19 Vaccine- Sinopharm, Coronavac, Covaxin, Covivac, Minhai, Qazvac
- Viral vector Covid-19 Vaccine- Sputnik V, Oxford-AstraZeneca, Conidecia, johnson & Johnson
- Protein Subunit Covid-19 Vaccine- EpiVacCorona, Zifivax
Details About Covid-19 Vaccines and Their Differences
1- Inactivated Covid-19 vaccine: uses weak whole or a derivative part of the virus that is able to trigger the immune system but can not cause an infection.
Examples– Qazvac, Covaxin, Minhai, Sinovac, Coronavac, Sinopharm Covivac
2- RNA/mRNA Covid-19 vaccine: this is a new technology that was never tried before but it is studied before while understanding Zika virus and rabies. These are lab-grown vaccines using the RNA or DNA of the virus, that are faster and more efficient than the traditional vaccines. There is no live virus or a part of this virus included which makes it safer than other vaccines
Examples– Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna
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3- Viral vector Covid-19 vaccine: it is a safe vaccine that uses a modified version of the virus and introduces it as a vector inside the host body. This modified virus is harmless for the body otherwise and cannot induce the infection. This is a tried and tested technology that is previously studied and used.
Examples- Convidecia Sputnik V, Johnson & Johnson Oxford AstraZeneca
4- Protein Subunit Covid-19 vaccine; these specialized vaccines use a subunit of the virus, that is mostly the protein part. This subunit is enough to trigger an immune response, helping the body to develop immunity against it. previously, this technology has been used for Hepatitis B virus, meningococcal disease, shingles, and lastly, pneumococcal disease
Examples- Epivaccorona, Zifivax, Novavax
