India’s new DNA vaccine increases choice

A breakthrough in Covid vaccine has been made in India with the drug controller approving the base successfully tested on human beings. The critical third phase trials with a sample of 28,000, the largest ever in India, has shown 66 per cent efficacy. And it included for the first time those aged between 12 and 18. This is India’s second homegrown vaccine.

Unlike other COVID-19 vaccines which require two doses, ZyCoV-D needs three doses. But it also has the distinction of being the first needle free vaccine. It is administered through a plasmid stream, which will penetrate the skin and it is supposed to reach the nucleus of the cell. It is different from the mRNA vaccines like Pfizer and Moderna, which inject the spike protein of the COVID-19 and the body reacts by producing the antibodies. In the new DNA vaccine, the body develops innate resistance instead of responding to external stimulus.

But virologists and other researchers have expressed reservations whether the DNA vaccine could be effective because it is felt that the plasmid stream may not reach the cell nucleus inside the body, and that earlier experiments with DNA vaccines have worked better with animals rather than human beings. But it has been acknowledged that it is a significant breakthrough though it would require independent validation.

India has been using Covaxin, an indigenously developed vaccine, and Covishield, developed by United Kingdom-based Oxford-AstraZeneca and manufactured in India. The third vaccine which had been approved for use earlier in summer is the Russian Sputnik. ZyCoV-D would be the fourth in the vaccine arsenal in India. About 47 per cent of eligible Indian adults have received one dose and 13 per cent two doses of the vaccines available in India so far.

It is now recognised that the more Covid vaccines that are made available the better it is in the war against Covid. This is for two reasons. It has been found that no single Covid vaccine manufacturer can produce nearly 14 to 15 billion vaccine doses needed for universal vaccinations across continents and countries because no manufacturer has the production capacity at such a humongous scale. Secondly, no Covid vaccine manufacturer as of now is willing to share the formula for mass production by retail manufacturers. The problem has arisen in India with Bharat Biotech, the maker of Covaxin, not willing to share the formula with the retail manufacturer.

It has also been found that the transfer of technology to other companies is also a cumbersome process. The more independent vaccine makers there are, the better it will be because they will each contribute a significant number of vaccine doses. And it will also widen the research and development base of vaccine makers.

The pandemic has shown that vaccine administration is a key element in the fight against COVID-19. The health infrastructure needed to vaccine everyone requires meticulous planning and smooth execution. Even if there is much less vaccine hesitancy than has been witnessed all over the world, the task of delivering vaccine to the eligible population remains a herculean task.

However, the situation is under control.

India has reported 36,571 new COVID-19 infections, taking the total tally of cases to 32,358,829, according to the latest Union health ministry data updated. The death toll has climbed to 433,589 with 540 more fatalities, the data showed. The rate of spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in states like Tamil Nadu has dipped below one per cent, Health Secretary Dr J. Radhakrishnan said. That qualifies the state to lift the COVID-19-prompted lockdown entirely, officials said. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to claim that the battle against the disease is well on track.