'Committed to support', says Pfizer as talks with India for COVID-19 vaccine continues

Seems like India is soon going to have another vaccine in its arsenal, for one of the world's premier biopharmaceutical companies, Pfizer on Monday 'committed to support' the country in its fight against COVID-19. In an official statement released earlier in the day, the company asserted that it is continuing to engage with the Government of India to advance dialogue and explore opportunities to make the Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine available for use. 

"Pfizer is firmly committed to supporting India in its fight against the pandemic. We continue to engage with the Government of India to advance our dialogue and explore opportunities to make the Pfizer BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine available for use in the country," the official statement read. 

Pfizer vaccine- All you need to know

Manufactured by Pfizer, the BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is an mRNA vaccine. Theses vaccines do not contain any virus particles, meaning that they don't contain weakened or dead parts of a virus or bacterium, and just deliver mRNA to your body's cells by lipid nanoparticles. The mRNA instructs the cells to generate the spike protein found on the surface of the novel coronavirus that initiates infection and spurs an immune response, including the generation of antibodies specific to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein.

As per the company, there are 'remote chances' that the vaccine could cause a severe allergic reaction, but if it does, it would usually occur within a few minutes to one hour after getting a dose of the vaccine. Some of the signs of a severe allergic reaction can include- difficulty in breathing, swelling of face and throat, a fast heartbeat, a bad rash all over your body, or dizziness and weakness. Injection site pain, tiredness, headache, muscle pain, chills, joint pain, and fever are some other, general side-effects witnessed in the case of this vaccine. 

This vaccine, which demonstrated 95 percent efficacy in Phase III trials, has already been approved in the United Kingdom, United States, France among others. The Indian government is presently in talks with the company and is expected to give an emergency authorization to it soon. 

(Credits-AP/PTI)