The second wave of Covid-19 is upon us just when we were thinking the worst is behind us. And that is probably one of the reasons why we are face-to-face with what looks like just the beginning of a nightmare. I know it’s not just me, but the increasing cases and news about unavailability of medical assistance has scared you as well.

On the bright side, vaccination began in March and people above the age of 45 are being vaccinated currently. While social distancing norms and that of wearing masks remain the same, one can hope to defeat the severity of the virus now even if, god forbid, one does test positive after complete vaccination.

Adult vaccination in such a large scale is not a common thing, and is as new to us as it is to the global medical fraternity. Everybody has been grappling with newfound information and trying to process them as they are received. Due to a surge in fake news over the last few years, there has also been a lot of misleading information on the safety of vaccines.

What every wise person has done in this time, is read up. I had to get my mother and my father-in-law vaccinated, and they both have very different health concerns. We were worried about side-effects of the vaccine after they took their doses, but due diligence and awareness ensured that neither of them faced much trouble. Their second dose is due in a few days and I am hopeful for the best.

If you are yet to go through the process of vaccination for anybody in your family, don’t let the idea overwhelm you. What I had done was, first made a list of places nearby where vaccination was being done, then found out which vaccine was being administered there. Based on which vaccine we wanted, we opted for the hospital accordingly. 

At the wake of an alleged shortage of vaccines, the Indian government has approved Russia’s Sputnik V which means now we have three vaccines available. This vaccinecomes at a time when the largest population age-group is waiting patiently for the vaccines to be available to all. They are partnering with Dr Reddy’s Laboratory to distribute the vaccines across India. Did you know that Sputnik V is based on human adenovirus platform, a tried and tested one that was used to fight Ebola in the past? Due to this tried and tested platform, Sputnik V vaccine demonstrated an efficacy of 97.6%, as per the analysis of data on the infection rate of coronavirus among those in Russia vaccinated with both components of Sputnik V.

There have also been surveys done by world trusted medical journals like Lancet that confirm the effectiveness of the Sputnik V vaccine. To get vaccinated, we need transparency in what is told to us so we can make an informed decision and such data really helps in decision making.

I am much relaxed after all the reading-up I did about the vaccines and how to get them. Now, I eagerly wait for the availability to open up for my age group too so I can get vaccinated and have at least some protection against the virus.

Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/how-sputnik-v-works-against-coronavirus-and-how-effectively-7270877/