The Great Indian Vaccine Quest

India joins the global race to produce a Covid-19 vaccine, but its candidates have to first clear the safety and efficacy test

- Raj Chengappa

To fight a war and win, Sun Tzu, the 6th century BCE Chinese military strategist and author of The Art of War, advises that you first know your enemy well. So, first let’s get to know Covid-19—the world’s Enemy No. 1 that has afflicted over 12 million people in 213 countries and territories and caused more than half a million deaths, at last count. In India alone, there are 700,000 cases with over 20,000 dead—putting us in the unenviable position of being No. 3 in the list of countries with the biggest toll of COVID cases, behind only Brazil and the United States. A recent study by MIT predicts that given the size of India’s population, we may have as many 270,000 cases a day by February 2021. This could eventually make us the worst-affected country in the world if no vaccine is found to treat the virus by then.

The micro-organism responsible for the pandemic is a formidable opponent that can rapidly fell humans a zillion times its size in huge numbers. To get an idea of how small this silent, insidious assassin really is, think of this: a thousand of them could fit into a grain of salt with ease. With the virus first being reported in Wuhan, China, in late 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) termed it Coronavirus Disease 2019 or Covid-19 because of its descent from the corona family of viruses, which have a zoonotic origin (passed on from animals to humans). The ancestor of the coronaviruses was first discovered in the 1960s and got its name from its crown-like shape when viewed through an electron microscope. Seen through more powerful diagnostic viewing tools now, the virus appears spherical and is studded with distinctive spikes known as peplomers. Multiplying rapidly in the sea of humanity, the virus has in just six months wreaked enormous havoc and distress on the world.