In the context of vaccines manufactured to prevent COVID-19 pandemic, consider the following statements:
- The Serum Institute of India produced COVID-19 vaccine named Covishield using mRNA platform.
- Sputnik V vaccine is manufactured using vector based platform.
- COVAXIN is an inactivated pathogen based vaccine.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
[UPSC Civil Services Exam – 2022 Prelims]
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Answer: (b)
Explanation:
Covishield
- Covishield vaccine is based on the platform which uses a recombinant, replication-deficient chimpanzee adenovirus vector encoding the SARS-CoV-2 Spike (S) glycoprotein.
- The Serum Institute of India produced a COVID-19 vaccine named Covishield but not using mRNA platform.
- It has been prepared using the viral vector platform. In the vaccine, a chimpanzee adenovirus – ChAdOx1 – has been modified to enable it to carry the COVID-19 spike protein into the cells of humans.
- This cold virus is basically incapable of infecting the receiver, but can very well teach the immune system to prepare a mechanism against such viruses. Statement 1 is incorrect.
Sputnik V
- It is the world’s first registered vaccine based on a well-studied human adenovirus vector platform. Statement 2 is correct.
Covaxin
- Covaxin is an inactivated viral vaccine – Statement 3 is correct.
