Coronavirus vaccine: Three major side-effects discovered in COVID-19 vaccine trials

Across India and abroad, work on a novel COVID-19 vaccine is being carried out in an unprecedented way. It would be the first time that a vaccine for a pandemic like this is being developed in such a fast manner.

Even though vaccines might be one of the best ways to safeguard ourselves from the pandemic that shows no signs of stopping yet, vaccination isn't free of side-effects. There exist slim chances that a vaccine may not suit everyone, or posit certain unpleasant side-effects for people, especially for those belonging to vulnerable categories. Recent discoveries from vaccine studies have only highlighted the same, explaining why we need to be careful and continue practising other social measures for our own safety.

We explain to you the three biggest side-effects which have been discovered so far in vaccine trials:

Johnson and Johnson, the latest vaccine candidate to commence phase III trials hit a pause this week (October 11) after one of the 60,000 volunteers reported an 'unexplained' illness in the middle of the trials. The vaccine, which is considered to be novel in its approach is considered a prime vaccine candidate since it only requires a single shot for inoculation and does not require 'freezing' or storage hurdles. However, the unexpected report of the sickness has pushed the trials a bit back.

Interestingly, the pharma maker has suggested that the pause was part of its "study pause" and not because of "regulatory or safety" concerns. While it has not been confirmed whether or not the volunteer received a placebo dose or the vaccine jab, the trial has made it clear that we would need to exercise caution before pegging hope on a single vaccine candidate. Interestingly, Johnson and Johnson's vaccine is modelled just like the Oxford vaccine, using a strain of the common cold virus.

Eli Lilly's unique experimental antibody cocktail, which works as a preventive dose has also been surrounded by controversies ever since US President Donald Trump praised its efficacy rates after he was dosed with the same medicines during his treatment. While the cocktail drug combination, Regeneron is still in phase II study, the company announced that the trials have been brought to a pause, after a safety concern was discovered. Citing the safety concern, a statement from the company's representative said,

“Out of an abundance of caution, the ACTIV-3 independent data safety monitoring board (DSMB) has recommended a pause in enrollment,”

The preventive shot, which is one of a kind makes use of monoclonal antibodies, manufactured after retrieving information from a recovered COVID patient. While antibody therapies are considered to be a safer bet than experimental vaccines, since they directly empower the immunity, Eli Lilly's recent flaw discovery has only proved that no one therapy can be trusted on fully, in our fight against COVID-19.

The University of Oxford-Astrazeneca backed COVID vaccine, ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 is one of the top leading contenders in the race. However, the vaccine candidate was also one of the first ones to be met with a side-effect, when a woman in the focus group, a healthy volunteer complained of mystery symptoms, linked to neurological deficits. Following the discovery of the side-effect, phase II/III trials for the vaccine were halted for revaluation across the world, including in India.

Further investigations revealed that the woman was suffering from a mysterious serious spinal inflammatory syndrome, transverse myelitis, which were later linked to the participant's pre-existing health conditions. After research, the trials were granted the go-ahead for a clinical study in the last week of September across the globe, barring the United States of America.

While the discovery of any safety concerns or complications at this stage, when we are witnessing a huge spike in cases across the world seems troubling, it may not all be bad news. For one, any discovery or negative discovery during crucial phase II/III phase would allow developers to "correct" the faults and deliver a safer, and more workable vaccine, which would be able to provide sufficient results at a mass level when inoculation would be introduced.

Hence, as a society, we would still need to practice a lot of preventive measures to cut down on our exposure risk as well as control the 'severity' of disease, since, at this point, getting our hands on early doses of a fully safe and trustable vaccine isn't possible.

Disinfection, avoiding exposure, isolation and keeping our immunity up work the best in fighting COVID-19.