World's first plasmid DNA vaccine against Covid-19, ZyCoV-D, to be launched in India

[ajay]

Namaste all,

India's drug regulator has approved the world's first plasmid DNA vaccine, ZyCoV-D, against Covid-19 for emergency use, on August 20. This is India's second home-grown vaccine after Covaxin and was developed by Indian pharmaceutical company Cadila Healthcare Limited (also known as Zydus Cadila), with support of the Indian government's biotechnology department.

It is expected to be launched at the ending of September 2021, at an affordable price.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02385-x

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-57774294

"I am quite excited about the vaccine because it offers a lot of good potential. If this jab works, the future of vaccination becomes logistically simpler," said Prof Shahid Jameel, a well-known virologist.

The vaccine ZyCoV-D has shown good stability at 25 degrees for up to 3 months making logistics and accessibility easier. DNA vaccines are also considered to be easy to manufacture.

Presently, Zydus Cadila is aiming at a manufacturing capacity of 10-12 crore doses every year.



Pranaam

[deafAncient]

THAT is crazy, "IF the jab works"! Let me help you out here:

Someone had once said:


"Science prefers everything to be verified and quantified. This does not mean that what science has not verified and quantified is untrue. The law of gravity has operated ever since creation. It has been in existence since Existence. Otherwise the sun and planets would not move as they have always moved.

"Yet, Newton discovered gravity only a few centuries ago. Society and religion didn’t accept this fact until then. The Earth has always been round. That is the truth. Yet this truth was bitterly contested with people being put to death over the argument. It’s only in the last millennium that some agreement was finally reached.

"Science is limited in perception. It is like exploring a dense and dark forest with a tiny lamp. The lamp illumines only a few feet ahead and science proposes a theory based on what it sees within that limited space. Next, science advances forward with the light and sees a few more feet ahead. What they see is quite different from what they saw earlier. So they propose a new theory and discard the former one. This is how science operates.

"Imagine if the whole forest was visible in one flash of lightning! This is how enlightened masters see the whole truth! This is the difference between science and mysticism."

White sugar in Victorian times
Radi-Thor
Radium Girls
Thalidomide disaster
Mibefradil (Posicor)
Troglitazone (Rezulin)

Need I go on?

[ajay]

THAT is crazy, "IF the jab works"! Let me help you out here:

Someone had once said:


"Science prefers everything to be verified and quantified. This does not mean that what science has not verified and quantified is untrue. The law of gravity has operated ever since creation. It has been in existence since Existence. Otherwise the sun and planets would not move as they have always moved.

"Yet, Newton discovered gravity only a few centuries ago. Society and religion didn’t accept this fact until then. The Earth has always been round. That is the truth. Yet this truth was bitterly contested with people being put to death over the argument. It’s only in the last millennium that some agreement was finally reached.

"Science is limited in perception. It is like exploring a dense and dark forest with a tiny lamp. The lamp illumines only a few feet ahead and science proposes a theory based on what it sees within that limited space. Next, science advances forward with the light and sees a few more feet ahead. What they see is quite different from what they saw earlier. So they propose a new theory and discard the former one. This is how science operates.

"Imagine if the whole forest was visible in one flash of lightning! This is how enlightened masters see the whole truth! This is the difference between science and mysticism."

White sugar in Victorian times
Radi-Thor
Radium Girls
Thalidomide disaster
Mibefradil (Posicor)
Troglitazone (Rezulin)

Need I go on?

Namaste,

Well stated deafAncient, and thank you for the insightful and eloquent post.

Yes, I would emphasize the regulation of scientific projects with better prudence and feasibility research projects.

I also agree that science results in partial truths and does not allow for a total understanding of the matter.

Most Indian projects are slow in execution, attracting criticism for delay, but there is an emphasis on prototype testing and validation for ironing out flaws, and incorporation of new technologies, which is a reason for the delay.

The said vaccine has been subjected to satisfactory testing in three phases, as reported in the article, and has been found to be effective against the delta variant...

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-57774294

Cadila Healthcare said it had conducted the largest clinical trial for the vaccine in India so far, involving 28,000 volunteers in more than 50 centres.



This is also the first time, the firm claimed, a Covid-19 vaccine had been tested in young people in India - 1,000 people belonging to the 12-18 age group. The jab was found to be "safe and very well tolerated" in this age group.


The key third phase of clinical trials was conducted at the peak of the deadly second wave of the virus. The vaccine maker believes this reaffirmed the jab's "efficacy against the mutant strains", especially the highly infectious Delta variant.

However I deeply appreciate the warning of your post in the necessity of ensuring prudence, regulatory measures and proper research for projects of such sort so as to avoid worse case scenarios.


Pranaam.

[deafAncient]

A couple of things:

1) there are no long-term studies on this vaccine (or any others, for that matter), since it didn't exist before two years ago. Do you become sterile after 5 years? No one knows. Is your health permanently compromised after 1-2 years, and does it get worse with each shot? No one knows because it has not happened, because it hasn't been AFTER 2 years, never mind 5 years.

2) Himācal Pradeś - I'm watching the daily caseload data DAILY because it was claimed on the news that the state is 100% vaccinated, and yet, they have around 200 new cases per day. Many other states are well below 100 per day, including Gujarāt, where I live.