List of Covid Vaccines

With the spread of COVID-19 disease starting in late 2019, it became very important to develop a vaccine to protect against this deadly disease. But it is important to note that you cannot develop the vaccine against any disease overnight. Instead, it would be best if you have done a lot of research and development and have a well-developed medical infrastructure.

Moreover, the most important thing while developing a vaccine for the COVID-19 disease was the time because the trials of the vaccine can take a lot of time. But with effective public-private partnerships worldwide, several vaccines for COVID-19 have now been developed, and vaccination has already completed its initial stages in many countries.

This article will tell you about the list of Covid vaccines developed until now and approved by the concerned authorities for use.

What is a Vaccine?

A vaccine is a kind of medicine prepared by extensive research to make the body immune against a particular type of disease-causing microorganisms. When a body is vaccinated, then the body slowly starts to get immune to the disease-causing microorganisms. Such immunity is built in the body because the vaccine already contains a weaker form of the disease-causing microbes. Thus, your body slowly develops the ability to fight against such microbes and does not get affected when exposed to the disease-causing microorganisms.

Vaccines are developed to fulfill different requirements. Some vaccines help fight against the already existing disease in the body, such as cancer. Some vaccines are used to reduce the risk of getting infected by a particular disease in the future, such as COVID-19 disease. The most common ways of vaccinating a person are by injection the vaccine into the body or through oral consumption.

List of Covid Vaccines

With the spread of the Covid-19 Virus, several research institutions and pharmaceutical companies started their research to develop a vaccine to fight against Covid-19 disease.

Following is a list of the Covid Vaccines developed until now and have been approved by the respective government authorities of different countries.

1. Covishield

Covishield is among the vaccines administered to a large number of people in India. It was among the first two vaccines, along with the Covaxin, that got approval from the government authorities. The original name of the Covishield vaccine is Oxford-AstraZeneca. Covishield vaccine was developed using the Adenovirus, a common cold virus found in Chimpanzees.

2. Covaxin

Covaxin is an Indian vaccine developed by the pharma company Bharat Biotech. Covaxin is developed using the killed coronaviruses, and thus when injected into the body, your body slowly starts to develop antibodies for protection against the deadly coronavirus. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the National Institute of Virology were two important partners in developing this vaccine.

3. Sputnik V Vaccine

Another vaccine that has proved effective in this fight against the coronavirus. The credit for the development of Sputnik V goes to the Gamaleya Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology. Sputnik V is a Russian vaccine, and thus it was first administered to the Russian population. Sputnik V is approved by 71 countries and the WHO (World Health Organization).

The vaccine uses a virus similar to the common cold, which carries small parts of the coronavirus into the body. And after the proper vaccination, the body starts to create antibodies to fight the coronavirus.

4. ZyCoV-D Vaccine

The Indian pharma giant Cadila entered the covid vaccine market with the launch of its vaccine ZyCoV-D. This vaccine has been approved for use in emergency cases only, but it is expected that government authorities will approve regular use of the vaccine soon. An important point about the ZyCoV-D vaccine is that it is a DNA plasmid-based vaccine protecting against the coronavirus.

E.Coli cells are used to produce the required plasmid for the ZyCoV-D vaccine. Due to the DNA-based nature of this vaccine, it is expected that it will be more effective and efficient than injection-based vaccines.

5. Pfizer-BioNTech Vaccine

Pfizer-BioNTech is an mRNA-based vaccine. The vaccine resulted from the successful collaboration of two pharma companies, BioNTech from Germany and Pfizer from the United States of America. This vaccine is prescribed for persons aged 12 years or more. The vaccine contains nucleoside-modified mRNA (Moderna) encoding a mutated form of the full-length spike protein of SARS-CoV-2, which is encapsulated in lipid nanoparticles.

6. Moderna Vaccine

Moderna was the leading American Pharma company in the race to develop an effective covid vaccine and got success with its Covid vaccine SpikeVax. The vaccine consists of nucleoside-modified mRNA encoding a spike protein of SARS-CoV-2, which is encapsulated in lipid nanoparticles.

Also, this vaccine can be administered to all people aged 12 or more. The modern vaccine was provided to the American population first and then exported to other countries.

7. Johnson & Johnson's Janssen Vaccine

The next covid vaccine on this list of Covid vaccines is developed by the Netherlands branch of the Belgian Pharma company Janssen vaccines. This vaccine is commonly known as the Janssen Covid-19 vaccine. The Janssen vaccine stands out from other vaccines in several ways.

Unlike many other Covid vaccines, only a single dose of Johnson & Johnson's Janssen vaccine must be administered. Also, this vaccine used the human Adenovirus to contain the gene needed to make the required spike protein to develop the antibodies for fighting against the covid virus.

8. Sinovac Vaccine

The Sinovac Covid vaccine was developed by the Chinese pharma giant Sinovac Biotech. It is commonly known as the CoronaVac vaccine. The vaccine is a type of inactivated vaccine, i.e., it consists of traces of the disease-causing microbes in small quantities, which help build antibodies against the virus when injected into the body.

9. Sinopharm BIBP Vaccine

Sinopharm BIBP was the second inactive vaccine developed by Sinovac Biotech. The vaccine is popular with different brand names such as BIBP vaccine, Sinopharm Vaccine, or BBIP-CorV. The techniques and technology in developing the Sinopharm BIBP vaccine are similar to the techniques used in the development of other successful covid vaccines such as Covaxin and CoronaVac.

10. Novavax Vaccine

The vaccine developed by Novovax is sold under Covovax and Nuvaxovid.

Novovax is a Big Pharma company from the United States of America and is involved in developing and manufacturing several types of vaccines. The covid vaccine from Novovax is a subunit vaccine which means that the vaccine only consists of antigenic parts like polysaccharides, proteins, or peptides. This vaccine has been approved for mass use by the government authorities of Australia, the European Union, and the UK.