If we have to believe to the reports coming from different governmental agencies and health organisation from across the globe, it appears that finally researchers have succeeded in making a break through to find an effective vaccine to cure Corona virus.

The United Kingdom is to become the first country in the world to approve a Covid-19 vaccine for public use. World’s two major pharmaceutical giants Pfizer and BioNTech have been given permission to manufacture and supply the vaccine for emergency use. This approval establishes Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to be the world’s first corona virus shot which is backed by rigorous scientific research. Hospitals in England have been told to start doing vaccinations for the medical workers as early as next week. The arrival of the vaccine will mark a major step toward eventually ending or at least containing the global corona virus pandemic. Other countries including US and European Union are also not far behind and are vetting Pfizer shot along with a similar vaccine made by Moderna Inc. India on the other hand is relying on homemade vaccine and many pharmaceutical giants are very close to the roll out of the vaccine as early as next month. Prime Minister Modi himself has paid a visit to some of these companies to take stock of the progress and as per the indications the local vaccine is being claimed to be safest among all vaccines developed so far world over with no major side effect.

New Zealand government has already ordered 1.5 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine which is enough to make 7,50,000 people safe as the vaccine will require a double dose. A widespread availability of the vaccine could still be a while away in New Zealand and it will also require approval from Medsafe. Medsafe is the regulator of the medicines in New Zealand including vaccines. We all in New Zealand should be happy about the fact that Covid-19 has largely remained outside our borders. It is not the case with most other countries of the world where number of infected people and fatalities are enormous, and these countries certainly require an effective vaccine urgently, to stop further loss of lives and restore the normalcy. Though the need to move fast for the vaccine is understandable but the internationally agreed criteria for safety, efficacy, and quality cannot be undermined.

Now different people respond differently to immunisation and history suggest any vaccine could be less effective in old people because the immune system in old people does not respond as well as happens with the annual flu jab. Data collected so far suggest that this may not be the case with Covid-19 vaccines. The immune system can still be boosted by giving multiple an adjuvant. The more important issue for some experts is still the safety from any side effects of the vaccine and India’s home-made vaccine is being claimed to be the safest of them all. All the pharmaceutical companies’ world over are claiming success rate of vaccine between 90% to 95% only, the remaining 5%-8% people may still succumb to the deadly pandemic. Front line workers and health professionals will be the first to get the vaccine jab. The storage of the vaccine in controlled temperatures and its distribution on priority basis could prove another challenge for health authorities in coming days.

It is a bitter fact that world may never be the same again post Corona and despite of any of the vaccine succeeding in checking it to some extent we still will need to continue taking due precautions about cleanliness, hygiene and uses of masks till the time it is completely wiped out from the world and that may still be a long way to go, vaccine or no vaccine. – Yugal Parashar