We are living in extraordinary times, where the Corona virus pandemic has been causing havoc with the lives of people regardless of geography, race, or nationality. Since the outbreak of corona virus in early months of 2019, the scientists of the world religiously started working on some sort of protection, cure or treatment against this deadly virus. Starting allegedly from a province of china, the corona virus spread in every nook and corner of the world like forest fire. The doctors, medical staff and the scientists found themselves at a loss, when they could not save the precious lives of the people dying in huge numbers everywhere. The pandemic did not differentiate between the developed or underdeveloped poor countries. It cut the lives of millions of people short in a matter of months.
A quest for vaccine/cure
The scientists had started a quest for vaccine and immunization against the lethal virus since its eruption in 2019. We started hearing that big pharmaceutical companies had started looking into making effective vaccines that might save the countless lives. Many countries like US, UK, Germany and other European countries started placing orders for vaccines in bulk even before they were commercially available and the late stages trials were underway.
Vaccination-not a novel concept
Vaccines had been around since ages and according to WHO, around more than three million lives are saved every year through vaccination drives for diseases like hepatitis, tetanus, measles, diphtheria, and polio to name a few. The effectiveness of vaccines had been proven countless times and the declining number of people stricken with abovementioned diseases is the evidence in itself.
How does a vaccine work?
Vaccines are formed in a way that they create and boost immunity in the body. When some sort of virus enters a human body, the human body is designed to fight it off with its immune system. The antigen that enters the body and makes it sick is to be fought off naturally by the body via producing antibodies. Vaccines are designed to help boost our immune system. They contain the parts of weak antigens, which cannot make you sick. However, they are strong enough to help your body to fight the virus, if you are affected with the same virus again. Corona virus vaccines also work on the same principle and proving to be effective as shown by the statistics of countries, where the cases of corona virus started going down, once a large chunk of their population became vaccinated.
Major corona virus vaccines available
Different pharmaceutical companies have come up with vaccines that might fight off and create immunity against the deadly virus. The governments of the world have also come forward and joined hands with pharmaceutical companies by pouring large sums of money into vaccine research, development, preparation and distribution at large scale to curb the pandemic. The vaccines that have been authorized by WHO are almost two dozen and the major vaccines include
- Pfizer
- Moderna
- AstraZeneca
- Johnson & Johnson
- Sinovac
- Sinopharm
- CanSino
- Sputnik
The statistics of corona virus distribution
Governments have received Corona virus vaccines and free shots of these vaccines are available to the masses in a drive to curtail the spread of virus and save people from getting infected. The latest statistics of Vaccine Tracker regarding corona virus vaccines reveal that 28.2% of the world population has received at least one shot of Covid vaccine and 14.5% of them are fully vaccinated. The number of Covid vaccines administered globally has surpasses 4.11 billion as of July 30, 2021. Around 37.58 million doses are being administered every day. However, only 1.1% citizens of underdeveloped nations have been vaccinated until now.
Myths about corona vaccine:
The outbreak of corona virus took countless lives, yet some ignorant people around the globe challenged the very fact that such a virus existed. They started circulating myths about the virus and when the vaccines came about, those people started spreading false assumptions related to the effectiveness and alleged side effects of Covid vaccines. Some of the silly yet dangerous myths are given below.
- Covid vaccine would deliver a microchip in human body for spying
- Vaccine would change the DNA of humans
- Vaccine would render women infertile
- Vaccinated people would die within two years
- Vaccine would cause corona virus
- Vaccines are unsafe because they are developed too fast
- Vaccines are ineffective because they are available free
Awareness campaigns for Covid vaccine
The governments have come together by launching awareness campaigns regarding the importance of getting vaccinated at earliest. The services of global influencers, celebrities, politicians, artists and other big wigs have been acquired by states to motivate and influence people to get vaccinated. The vaccination drives include advertisements on social media, television and other such platforms.
Benefits of Covid vaccination
- It is safe and scientifically proven to limit the spread of virus
- It produces immunity against corona virus
- It prevents being seriously ill in case you contract virus after getting vaccination
- Getting vaccinated helps save the your life and that of your loved ones
- Vaccinated people are allowed to travel, work, and participate in social gatherings with SOPs.
Covid vaccination and incentives
In order to popularize the trend of getting vaccinated, governments have come up with various incentives and certain conditions. For instance, it is mandatory for the passengers at airports to produce vaccination certificates before getting onboard. Global companies and business giants have instructed their staff to get vaccinated and they are also arranging free of cost vaccination for their staff members. In countries such Pakistan, US, UK, and others, the teachers and academic staff had been asked to receive vaccination. The vaccination data is being registered to keep the record of vaccinated people and separate the non-vaccinated population. Quite recently, the provincial government of Sindh, Pakistan had announced to cancel the mobile sim subscriptions of non-vaccinated citizens. It prompted the large chunk of population to attain vaccination. It is now imperative for governments and states to make people get fully vaccinated to reduce the onslaught of this potentially terminal disease.
