Here is Question No. 39 a part of our series on UPSC Prelims 2022.
Q39. In the context of vaccines manufactured to prevent COVID-19 pandemic, consider the following statements:
- The Serum Institute of India produced a COVID-19 vaccine named Covishield using an mRNA platform.
- Sputnik. V vaccine is manufactured using a vector-based platform.
- COVAXIN is an inactivated pathogen-based vaccine.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
a) 1 and 2 only
b) 2 and 3 only
c) 1 and 3 only
d) 1, 2 and 3
Answer – B
- Statement 1 is incorrect: India has majorly relied on the viral vector vaccine Covishield for its vaccination drive. Over 88% of the doses given out so far have been of Covishield, the OxfordAstraZeneca vaccine manufactured locally under license by the Serum Institute of India. Unlike mRNA vaccines, Serum Institutes Covishield uses the viral vector platform. In the vaccine, a chimpanzee adenovirus – ChAdOx1 – has been modified to enable it to carry the COVID-19 spike protein into the cells of humans. A similar technique was used for making Ebola vaccines. This virus is basically incapable of infecting the receiver, but can very well teach the immune system to prepare a mechanism against such viruses.
- Statement 2 is correct: Sputnik V, the world’s first registered vaccine is based on the human adenoviral vector-based platform.
- Statement 3 is correct: Covaxin is an inactivated vaccine. This destroys the pathogen’s ability to replicate, but keeps it intact so that the immune system can still recognize it and produce an immune response
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