English

Abstract

BACKGROUND COVID-19 is a serious disease caused by a novel coronavirus known as SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome). With a population of 1.38 billion people, India aimed to vaccinate 300 million people in the first phase of the COVID-19 vaccination program by August 2021, including 30 million health workers and frontline workers, as well as 270 million elderly people (over 50 years) and those people with co-morbidities. COVID-19 vaccination has begun in India with two types of vaccines: Covishield (by Serum Institute of India Ltd) and Covaxin (by Bharat Biotech International Ltd), according to the Press Information Bureau. Manufacturers in India have said that they will be able to meet the country's future COVID-19 vaccination needs. Both the vaccines function by priming the immune system with a SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and require two doses. Covaxin uses an inactivated SARS-CoV-2 virus taken from an asymptomatic patient, while Covishield uses a weakened variant of adenovirus. On prime minister Narendra Modi's birthday, which is on the 17th of September 2021, a massive immunization blitz is planned. With the CoWIN website updated every second throughout the day, India has administered 2.25 crore Covid-19 vaccine doses. METHODS The review study was carried out in PGI Chandigarh, with the base of the material accessed online and a few studies conducted recently. We conducted a literature search using the MEDLINE electronic database to identify published studies until Sep 2021. The search was confined to peer-reviewed articles that were published in English and contained an abstract. Reference lists of journal articles were also screened for additional citations fitting our search criteria. CONCLUSIONS We conclude that masks alone are insufficient to provide adequate protection against COVID-19 and that they must be used in conjunction with physical distancing, hand cleanliness, and vaccination to put an end to the global SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. A successful vaccination is safe, efficacious, long-lasting, and deployable to large populations, and one should follow the local health authority's recommendations. KEY WORDS Coronavirus, Vaccine development, Vaccination, Prevention.