Tag: myth

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Is Third Wave Inevitable in India?

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India has just emerged from the crisis posed by the second wave and the COVID case rate is on a constant decline. Many state governments have started to relax the strict lockdown measures.

But just as we had a sigh of relief, news of the impending third wave has started pouring in. Niti Ayog member VK Saswat has emphasized that India needs to prepare for the ‘inevitable’ third wave of the Coronavirus Pandemic. The third wave is expected to affect the younger people more and vaccination is the only way forward. Another challenge in combating the Coronavirus waves is the constantly mutating nature of the virus. The Kappa and Delta variant of the coronavirus was responsible for wreaking havoc across the country during the second wave. A new variant called Delta plus or AY.1 of coronavirus has been already identified in a few states. But this strain is not yet classified as a variant of concern.

What is an epidemic wave?

 

There is no universally accepted definition for an infection wave. The term ‘wave’ is used to signify the increasing or decreasing trend of the caseload in a country or a region. It can also be used to refer to the seasonality of an infection. Coronavirus disease has affected every country in the world but there is a clear trend of the abrupt rise and consequent fall in the number of positive cases. So far there have been two waves in India. It also differs from state to state. For example, the NCT of Delhi has experienced four distinct waves since the outbreak.

 

Is a Third Wave Inevitable?

 

Currently, the second wave has subsided, and the number of cases is on a declining trend. But many renowned epidemiologists have warned of an impending third wave. The problem is aggravated due to constant mutations and recurring variants of the coronavirus. If in the coming months, the coronavirus cases are again on an increasing trend and the trend continues for several weeks, then it will be qualified as the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic. States like TN and Karnataka have already experienced a slight increase in the number of cases but the national trend continues to subside.

 

Will it be more Dangerous?

 

Generally, as the virus infects more and more people, the increasing size of the population develops an acquired immunity against it. So theoretically the consequent waves of the viruses are supposed to be milder. However, this theoretical explanation is defeated by the constantly changing nature of the virus. So far every emerging variant is more infectious and lethal. There are studies going on to find out the efficacy of vaccines against the emerging variants. Many commentators have predicted that the third wave might be more lethal due to these reasons. However, in the paucity of data and predictive models, the consequent trend of infectivity and mortality of the virus remains uncertain. The only way to protect oneself against the coronavirus disease is to get vaccinated and practice covid appropriate behavior like double masking and physical distancing.

 

You can search for vaccine slot availability on the ‘Vaccine Slot Finder’ on the OneDios app. It allows you to have a streamlined and uncomplicated experience while searching for your vaccine slot. You have to simply enter your Pincode to get the relevant information about slot availability. OneDios COVID 19 Vaccine Slot Finder empowers you to efficiently check available vaccine slots in your area by making the process easygoing, painless, and reliable.

You can also track vaccine-related statistics on the “Vaccination Dashboard” available on the OneDios app. The data for the dashboard is sourced from official Co-Win Statistics. Through this dashboard, you can stay informed about the number of sites conducting vaccination and total vaccination doses in real-time. Relevant data and trends are presented in user-friendly graphs, categories, and visual formats for greater access. You can also check updated data by selecting your state or district to know about specific statistics.

 

 

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Industry Talk

How Vaccines are made?

The recent outbreak of the coronavirus has interested many peoples for the scientific know-how of vaccine manufacturing and production. The main purpose of vaccines is to generate antigens against the respective viruses and to enhance the immune response of the body in fighting against them. There are several vaccines available in the market for a variety of viral and infectious diseases. A lot of scientific parameters are necessary to be followed in the process of manufacturing vaccines. It starts with the study of the nature of viruses and goes through various clinical trials and errors in order to make it as effective and safe as possible.

 

Ingredients in a vaccine:

  • Antigen

According to the information available on the WHO website, the key ingredient that goes into the manufacturing of any vaccines is an antigen. An antigen is either the small part of the disease-causing virus or even the whole organism but in weakened or altered form to make the body learn about the nature of the virus. This antigen can be anything like in the form of sugar or protein. The selection of antigen forms the most important part of the manufacturing processes as it includes genomics or genome sequencing to find the most appropriate and effective genes that can be used as antigens.

 

  • Adaptations of Right Platform

Now the next step in vaccine production is about the adaptation of the right platforms. This primarily means employing different methods like modification around genes or inducing genetic engineering in the structure of DNA or RNA to produce desired antigens inside the body.

 

  • Preservatives

The other important component is the preservative that maintains the quality of vaccines, and prevents vaccines from contaminations. The most common and widely used preservative is 2-phenoxyethanol.

 

  • Stabilizers and Surfactants

Stabilizers prevent chemical reactions from occurring within the vaccine. It can be sugars (lactose, sucrose), amino acids (glycine), gelatin, and proteins (recombinant human albumin, derived from yeast). And the function of Surfactant is to keep all ingredients in the vaccines blended together and prevent the originality of vaccines.

 

  • Residuals

Residuals also form an important ingredient of vaccine manufacturing and depend on the processes that are utilized for manufacturing. Egg proteins, yeast, or antibiotics are some examples of residuals.

 

  • Diluent

The primary use of diluent is to maintain the appropriate liquid concentration of vaccines. The most commonly used diluent is sterile water.

 

  • Adjuvant

The adjuvants are used to improve the immune response to vaccines. For any antigen that induces a weak response, adjuvants are added to enhance their efficacy and quality. It is also used to overcome the limitations in vaccine productions by lowering the doses required for vaccinations. Aluminum salts (like aluminum phosphate, aluminum hydroxide or potassium aluminum sulfate) are commonly used adjuvants that are not harmful to the human body.

 

You can search for vaccine slot availability on the ‘Vaccine Slot Finder’ on the OneDios app. It allows you to have a streamlined and uncomplicated experience while searching for your vaccine slot. You have to simply enter your Pincode to get the relevant information about slot availability. OneDios COVID 19 Vaccine Slot Finder empowers you to efficiently check available vaccine slots in your area by making the process easygoing, painless, and reliable.

You can also track vaccine-related statistics on the “Vaccination Dashboard” available on the OneDios app. The data for the dashboard is sourced from official Co-Win Statistics. Through this dashboard, you can stay informed about the number of sites conducting vaccination and total vaccination doses in real-time. Relevant data and trends are presented in user-friendly graphs, categories, and visual formats for greater access. You can also check updated data by selecting your state or district to know about specific statistics.

 

 
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Industry Talk

Tackling with Vaccine Hesitancy.

It has been over a year since the COVID-19 and the government of India has allowed vaccination of the 18-45yr age group. Earlier it was restricted to people of age above 45 and healthcare or frontline workers. It has now become common knowledge that vaccines are the ultimate tool that can save lives and livelihood. Vaccines are also important to get the economy back on track. But, it has been observed that due to vaccine misinformation and ‘information overload’, vaccine hesitancy is on the rise. Vaccine hesitancy is a delay in people accepting vaccination as a robust public health intervention. It leads to people either refusing to take vaccines or doubting the vaccines due to misinformation and rumors. WHO has referred to vaccine hesitancy as one of the top threats to global health.

Here are a few points to address vaccine hesitancy:

1. Vaccination protects you from getting sick

Experts and authorities have consistently stressed the fact that vaccines can prevent death and the severity of the infection. A vaccine trains your body to develop specific antibodies to fight any future infection, hence protecting you from the disease. These vaccines provide a boost to your body’s immunity system.

2. vaccination helps others in your community

The elders and people with co-morbidities like diabetes and heart diseases are more vulnerable to severe COVID infection. The chain of transmission can be broken if more people get vaccinated in a community, thus creating a protective shield around themselves. Each person getting a vaccine reduces the chance of spreading it to others who might not have received their vaccine or the vulnerable sections.

 3. Vaccines are safe

Samiran Panda, Head of ECD division in ICMR says, “ Vaccines are one of the most important public health tools we have to mitigate the impact of infectious diseases”. Governments across the globe are concerned about the health impacts of any large-scale public health intervention. They approve a vaccine for public use only after rigorous human trials have been conducted and data is favorable to public use. WHO has released a robust mechanism for vaccine trials to test its efficacy and safety.

4. Side effects are temporary

Since COVID vaccines do not contain any live virus, you will not get infected due to the vaccines. You might experience a few side effects like a sore arm, mild fever, and body aches. But these side effects are temporary. And these side effects only mean that your immune system is fighting back and responding to the vaccine by developing antibodies against the infection.

5. Vaccines provide extra protection if you have already had COVID

As per the current guidelines you should still get vaccinated even if you have been infected with COVID earlier. This is because antibodies by the previous infection are not permanent and they might disappear after a few months. This would leave you susceptible to the COVID again. 

You can search for vaccine slot availability on the ‘Vaccine Slot Finder’ on the OneDios app. It allows you to have a streamlined and uncomplicated experience while searching for your vaccine slot. You have to simply enter your Pincode to get the relevant information about slot availability. OneDios COVID 19 Vaccine Slot Finder empowers you to efficiently check available vaccine slots in your area by making the process easygoing, painless, and reliable.

You can also track vaccine-related statistics on the “Vaccination Dashboard” available on the OneDios app. The data for the dashboard is sourced from official Co-Win Statistics. Through this dashboard, you can stay informed about the number of sites conducting vaccination and total vaccination doses in real-time. Relevant data and trends are presented in user-friendly graphs, categories, and visual formats for greater access. You can also check updated data by selecting your state or district to know about specific statistics.

 

 

 
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Industry Talk

Vaccine myth : Don’t believe these Vaccine myths.

Since the vaccines against COVID-19 are developed in a record short period of time, there are a lot of misconceptions around the subject. The outbreak of the COVID-19 Pandemic last year took the scientific community by surprise. SARS-COV-2 virus which causes coronavirus disease is a novel virus and no cure for the virus was available. It caused infections in country after country and spread throughout the world like wildfire. Scientists and researchers deserve applause for being able to develop vaccines in a record short time against this deadly virus. Given that vaccines are the only available defense against this disease, it is important to bust myths around vaccination arising due to Vaccine misinformation. And it is also important to acknowledge that vaccines are the only hope to save lives and livelihoods.

 

1. Myth: Vaccines are unsafe because they were developed too early

Fact: It has been decades of scientific advances and research that goes into the development and trials of vaccines today. The scientific community was able to develop the COVID vaccine early because they had years of reliable research in vaccine technology available. As Science and technology have progressed rapidly, genomic sequencing of the coronavirus could also be achieved quickly. There are robust mechanisms to test the vaccines in-vitro and conduct trials on humans. A vaccine is approved by authorities only when there is complete evidence of its efficacy and safety.

 

2. Myth: You can contract COVID due to vaccines so why get vaccinated?

Fact: Vaccines do not contain any live viruses. Whole virus vaccine technology only uses attenuated or inactivated viruses to trigger an immune response inside the human body. They are not strong enough to cause an infection. Other vaccine technologies like nucleic acid RNA and DNA vaccines use only the spike protein to mimic an infection so that body can develop antibodies against the virus to prevent any future infection. According to the experts, even if someone contracts COVID after getting vaccinated, the severity of the disease would be very mild. So Vaccines definitely reduce mortality. 

 

3. Myth: People with comorbidities shouldn’t get vaccinated

Fact: People suffering from co-morbidities like diabetes and hypertension are at a greater risk of contracting a severe disease. So it is even more pertinent for them to get vaccinated. The vaccine policy of India had initiated a graded process in the beginning. After the health staff and frontline workers, the population with co-morbidities above 45yr of age was made eligible to get vaccinated. It is suggested that you consult the doctor who manages your conditions in case you have concerns.

 

4. Myth: After getting vaccinated, you don’t need to wear a mask 

Fact: Even after getting a vaccine, you need to practice social distancing and wear a mask when in public. This is because a huge chunk of the population hasn’t still been able to get their vaccine doses. Even if you are vaccinated you might still spread it to others who are not vaccinated. Another reason to not let down your guard is that none of the vaccines claims 100% efficacy, so you might still get infected with a much-decreased severity of the disease.

 

5. Myth: Pregnant women shouldn’t get vaccinated

Fact: Vaccine policies are modified as more reliable data emerges. According to CDC, it is absolutely fine for pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers to get vaccinated. These decisions are supposed to be made by experts on a case-by-case basis. It is advised to consult the doctor and take action accordingly.

 

You can search for vaccine slot availability on the ‘Vaccine Slot Finder’ on the OneDios app. It allows you to have a streamlined and uncomplicated experience while searching for your vaccine slot. You have to simply enter your Pincode to get the relevant information about slot availability. OneDios COVID 19 Vaccine Slot Finder empowers you to efficiently check available vaccine slots in your area by making the process easygoing, painless, and reliable.

You can also track vaccine-related statistics on the “Vaccination Dashboard” available on the OneDios app. The data for the dashboard is sourced from official Co-Win Statistics. Through this dashboard, you can stay informed about the number of sites conducting vaccination and total vaccination doses in real-time. Relevant data and trends are presented in user-friendly graphs, categories, and visual formats for greater access. You can also check updated data by selecting your state or district to know about specific statistics.