Most Contagious and Deadly new variants of COVID-19

About covid-19 variants 

For the last one and a half years, the wave of covid-19 infection has been seen in the world. In the second wave of covid-19, its magnitude also looked quite serious. According to health experts, mutations in the virus are currently making it more deadly and contagious. So far, scientists have considered the Delta variant of covid-19 the most contagious. Meanwhile, some new variants have recently added to the concerns of experts.

Almost all the reports have shown that such a change in the new variant of covid-19 can easily deceive the body's immune system. The third wave of covid-19 is being debated around the world. Many have estimated that the wave is more serious and will affect children more.

In a recent report, scientists have suggested a variant of the covid-19 that could be even more dangerous than the delta. Scientists fear that these variants could cause serious complications in most infections.

Here are four dangerous variants listed by experts:

1. Covid's super variant - (Covid-22)

Immunologists at ETH Zurich University in Switzerland have warned people about Corona's super variant 'Covid-22'. Scientists say that depending on the nature of the variant, its infection could lead to serious health complications.

Not only that. Extremely powerful vaccines may be needed to avoid this variant. Scientists are of the opinion that the possible danger from covid-19 may be avoided in the future.

2. South African variant (C.1.2)

 Scientists have recently reported the severity of the South African variant C.1.2 of Covid. According to researchers at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) and the KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Squeezing Platform (KRISP), the variant first appeared in May.

It has been found in some cities in South Africa and later in other countries. Experts estimate that the covid vaccine has no effect on the virus.

3. Myu variants

The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced a new variant of Myu covid-19 in its weekly epidemic bulletin. It has been classified as a 'variant of interest', according to the study. Studies are still being done to find out.

4. Lambda variant of covid-19

A team of scientists studying the Lambda variant Corona recently reported that the Lambda variant of the corona has seven mutations. This deadly variant of the corona, first found in Peru, has spread to many countries around the world, including the United States and the United Kingdom. Health experts consider it more dangerous than the Delta variant of the Corona.

Scientists say that this type of corona variant has seen many mutations in the spike protein that significantly increase its infection rate. The WHO has also classified the Lambda variant as a 'variant of interest'.

Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine Effectiveness: What are the side effects of Janssen covid vaccine?

 

Janssen's COVID-19 Vaccine 

Johnson and Johnson's Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine 

Coronavirus (SARS-COV-2) has infected 202.4 million  in the World and nearly 181.9 million has recovered and nearly 4.29  have died  as of 7 August, 2021. The economic, social, and psychological impact of the pandemic is even more devastating.  And, there is no way or measures to get rid of corona until now . There is no specific medicine for COVID-19 patients. In  such pandemic situation, everyone's eyes are on the vaccine to prevent spreading  SARS-COV-2 infection.

New technology and past years experience of scientists made easy to develop vaccines within a year of pandemic after the first coronavirus discovered in Wuhan, China. It is a scientific miracle itself.
Companies in collaboration with well known medical science institutions used their technology, past year's practice to develop vaccines and tested their vaccines in different environments, different countries . They published date of efficacy (effectiveness) of vaccine after completing third stage clinical trials. More than one dozen of different vaccines have been approved by WHO and concerned countries as of 7 August, 2021. Different generic vaccine have different its effectiveness ranging from 60% to 95 % after its full course.

To prevent spread of virus, to make less severity of disease in case of getting infected, to reduce the number of deaths due to Covid-19, we need vaccines. We have no specific treatment for COVID-19 patients so far. Only one means, measures or way that we have is vaccination as soon as possible.

As we are asking for vaccination against SARS-COV-2, at the same time we are too much worried about effectiveness and side effects of the vaccines. Unnecessary, unproven gossip rumours circulating in the social media and newspaper about vaccine, its effectiveness and side effects made more confusion in our community whether to get vaccinated or not. It is necessary to eliminate such unnecessary rumours from our society before vaccination campaign.
Oxford in collaboration with AstraZeneca developed vaccine Oxford AstraZeneca and Covishield, Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Sinopharma, Sputnik, Sinovac, Janssen, Covaxin, CanSino are some examples of covid-19 vaccines that have been used in  worldwide.
Among them, I described about Janssen covid vaccine, its effectiveness (efficacy)and a little bit about its side effects which is common in all vaccines.

The Janssen COVID-19 vaccine was listed for emergency use by World Health Organization (WHO) on 12 March 2021. The vaccine has been authorized emergency use in more than 29 countries including Europe and USA.

Many people are interested to know about the efficacy, safety and side effects of Johnson and Johnson's Janssen vaccine because they are taking this vaccine during COVID-19 pandemic.

Janssen COVID-19 vaccine is single dose vaccine. It is also called Johnson and Johnson's Janssen COVID-19 vaccine. It was developed by Janssen Biotech Inc, a Janssen pharmaceutical company of Johnson and Johnson. Its generic name is JNJ-78436735 or AD26.COV2.S.
It is viral vector type or Adenovirus vector type vaccine.

Effectiveness of Janssen COVID-19 vaccine:

Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine was 66.3 % effective in clinical trials. So efficacy of the vaccine is 66.3 percent in people who have received the janssen vaccine. Clinical trial of Janssen covid vaccine showed that :

 most protection achieved 2 weeks after getting vaccinated
 high efficacy at preventing hospitalization and death in people due to Covid-19
 no one who got infected with SARS-COV-2 at least 4 weeks after receiving Janssen COVID-19 vaccine had to be hospitalized
 single-shot of Janssen vaccine showed ability to protect from multiple variants of SARS-COV-2
 single-shot Janssen COVID-19 vaccine generated strong and persistent activity against the rapidly spreading Delta variant of SARS-COV-2

Durability of vaccine ie, how long does it work, is under study.

Safety of Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine

On the context of safety of Janssen covid vaccine, data available from both clinical trials and preliminary data from country surveillance programmes on their efficacy and safety showed safe with some common mild side effects. Being safe and high efficacy of vaccine, there have been reports of very rare but serious cases of blood clots (thrombosis) accompanied by low platelet counts (thrombocytopenia). This type of syndrome is called Thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS). TTS found to  be occurred 3 to 30 days after vaccination with COVID-19 non-replicant adenovirus vector-based vaccines such as Covishield and Janssen.
So it would be better to get tested your blood after you get vaccinated within 4- 20 days.

After a careful scientific reviewing of the available information, Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety (GACVS) has come to conclusion that the benefits of the Johnson and Johnson's Janssen COVID-19 vaccine outweighs the risk of TTS. Janssen COVID-19 vaccine has been considered an important tool to prevent infection and to reduce the deaths due to Covid-19 across the world.

Side effects of Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine

Like other COVID-19 vaccines, Johnson and Johnson's Janssen COVID-19 vaccine can cause mild to moderate short term side effects, such as a low grade fever, tiredness  muscles pain, headache, chill, nausea and redness at the site of injection.  Most of the reactions go away within a few days. More serious and long lasting side effects of Janssen COVID-19 vaccine ,such as  thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS), are possible but very rare . Except TTS , all other reported side effects to Janssen COVID-19 vaccine have mostly been mild to moderate and short lasting.
Note that one  should not get vaccinated with Janssen COVID-19 vaccine if he/she had a severe allergic reaction to any ingredient of this type of vaccine.

Take one thing in mind that vaccination is a critical tool to help prevent spread of infection, further illness and death and to control the pandemic. So you should get vaccinated with available vaccine in your place as soon as possible.

COVID-19 Vaccine|Which vaccine is best?

 

Covid-19 vaccine 

 

About  COVID-19 Vaccine 

More than 200 million people have been infected with SARS-COV-2 worldwidely. Among them 180 million have  recovered, 4.2 million have lost their lives as of 5 August, 2021. Currently 15.7 million are still infected and among them more than 93 thousand are in critical condition. 

 The economic, social, and psychological impact of the pandemic is even more devastating.  And, there is still no way to get rid of SARS-COV-2 until now.  In such cases, everyone's eyes are on the vaccine to prevent corona infection.
The pace at which vaccines have evolved is nothing short of a scientific miracle in itself.  The vaccine was developed less than a year after the first coronavirus was discovered in China.  Companies involved in vaccine development used their own methods, tested in different environments, and accordingly came up with different data on efficacy.  

Vaccine development has been made a matter of prestige by powerful nations.  Even now, they are trying to increase their influence in world politics through vaccination diplomacy. 

Just as rumors about coronavirus have spread, so have rumors and misconceptions about vaccines.  For this, social media has been used more.  We, who are accustomed to evaluating the market for everything, naturally came up with the question of which vaccine is the most reliable.  Let's talk about corona and vaccine.

To understand which vaccine is best, it is first necessary to know how the vaccine works.  What happens to the virus before that?  How does the infection occur?  And, how does our resistance work?  It is important to understand that.

Viruses are submicroscopic infectious structures that replicate only inside the living cells of a organism.The structure of the virus can be compared to that of a lychee fruit.  Just as lychees have different layers, so do viruses have different layers made up of different proteins, and the innermost part of the virus, like the seeds, contains the RNA.  Like the thorns on the outside of a lychee, the virus has a hard outer leaf.  That layer  contains a protein called spike protein.  It is the same stiff spike protein that is important to penetrate the body's cells.

When a virus infects the body, it is recognized by the cells in our immune system and the body begins to fight against it.  The body takes various measures to fight viruses, bacteria and other germs, but the basic thing is to destroy the virus. Along with killing virus, white blood cells in the body begin to make antibodies to identify that virus. Initially these antibodies are less effective and later these antibodies become sophisticated with infection and become very effective. 
As the outer layer contains spike  protein, it is easier for the body to identify the same protein.  Once the antibody recognizes the hard protein in the layer, the body can kill the virus.  Just as each fruit has a different outer layer, each  virus has a different outer surface, so the body's immune system produces different antibodies that recognize different life forms.

The body's unique immune system is used against the virus through vaccines.  The main purpose of making the vaccine is to acquaint the body with the outer layer of the virus.  That is to say, it is like introducing lychee to a person who has never seen lychee by showing the peel of lychee.  

The vaccines currently in use are available to almost everyone using the same outer layer of the virus in the body using various techniques.  RNA vaccines, such as Pfizer and Moderna, induce small RNAs that make only spike  protein into the body, causing the body to produce speck protein, and the body to make antibodies.  Vaccines such as Covishield place the spike protein of the corona virus on the surface of the harmless virus, while vaccines such as vero cell take the entire coronavirus and numb it to deliver the spike protein to the body.  In the end, whatever technique is used, the spike protein is available in the body and antibodies are formed against it.

The body not only makes antibodies immediately, but also protects them by developing the ability to make antibodies in the long run.  This means that the newly formed antibodies, which have been injected for some time, prevent the infection from occurring.  With vaccination, the abundance of antibodies is reduced over time, but if the infection persists, antibodies are produced immediately.  Therefore, it is normal for the amount of antibody to decrease after some time of vaccination.  Although there is a possibility of some decline in long-term resistance, it cannot be ruled out now and this issue will become clearer in the long run.  But it has been confirmed that all vaccines used so far produce sufficient amounts of antibodies and provide protection even after a period of about a year now.

But with the affordable number of vaccines on the market right now, the question is which vaccine is the best.  When different studies show different percent of efficacy of the same vaccine, it is intrinsic fact that some doubts arise in people.  

First of all, we need to understand what the vaccination efficacy rate is.  Just because a vaccine is 90 percent efficacy does not mean that it works for 90 out of 100 people who are vaccinated, not for 10 people.  This means that there was a 90 percent reduction in infections compared to those not vaccinated.  That is, if vaccinated, it indicates how much the overall infection in the society decreases.
But the efficacy rate does not show the whole picture.  Different vaccines were tested in different populations at different times.  The infection rate was very high during some vaccine tests and low during some tests.  Variants of the virus were also found to be different in such tests conducted at different times and places.  That is, not all vaccines are tested at the same time in the same environment.  This is why the efficacy of the same vaccine seems to be different.  Therefore, it is a matter of course that the efficacy rate cannot be compared.

Vaccines are also used on a scientific basis. These vaccines have been shown to work.  Therefore, there is no doubt that all corona vaccines work.  

If all people get vaccinated, the infection rate will reduce 65 -95  percent. 
But the benefits of vaccination are not just about reducing the infection rate. It also reduce the severity of disease if one get infected with virus. The first question we have to ask is, what do we want to be after the vaccination?  The first and best thing to do is not to get infected after vaccination.  This means that even if an infection does occur, it should not be serious and should not lead to further death.  That is whay it is measure to avoid death.  

If a person fully vaccinated becomes infected with the virus, there is almost no chance of severity of infection being admitted to a hospital. 

Similarly, the number of deaths due to corona infection in vaccinated people is almost zero.  That is why , people who are fully vaccinated are more likely to become safe from covid-19 than those who are not vaccinated.  In other words, the main challenge of the covid-19 epidemic is to manage the critically ill and prevent death.

We have been hearing about the side effects of various vaccines, which has also caused a lot of misunderstanding in the society.  Fever and body aches are common symptoms after the vaccination.  This is also seen in other vaccines.  But at one time or another, the other side effects of the vaccine were discussed, which has led many people to doubt the vaccine.For example, the Covishield vaccine produced in India caused blood clots and the effects of the Johnson & Johnson's Janssen vaccine on the nervous system were much talked about.  The problem was seen in less than 300 people who were vaccinated with Covishield vaccine in about 30 million people, while Janssen vaccine was found in 100 people when it was vaccinated in 15 million people.  Why is this problem seen in a limited number of people?  The extent to which vaccines have contributed to this problem is still under investigation.  At present, only warnings have been issued that this could happen.  Also, they are rarely seen numerically.

There is another question about the effectiveness of the vaccine, which is related to different variants.  First of all, it is important to understand why the vaccine does not work in the variant.  The virus gradually changes over time.  In that process, sometimes there is a change in the appearance of that extracellular protein, which is not recognized by the antibodies that are already formed in our body.  Research has shown that some of the variants seen today have slightly modified the spike protein and that the currently available vaccine is less effective.  However, there is no lack of ability to prevent serious illness or death.  The current vaccine may not work if the variant, which has changed dramatically over time, expands, but this is not the case now.

Which vaccine is the best?  

The simple answer is, approved all available vaccine. That is why , the vaccine that is available to you is the best vaccine.  That vaccine protects you from corona infections, working against all known variants.  And, even if an infection does occur, the disease will not be allowed to grow in a way that will lead to serious conditions or death.  So rest assured, get vaccinated in your turn.  Keep yourself safe, keep others safe too.

The government should also buy the vaccine, which will not be a problem in storage and distribution, is also cheap.  And most importantly, it can be easily and regularly available.  But looking at the demand and supply around the world, there is no need to be stuck in one vaccine, any vaccine should be taken as soon as it becomes available.