Table 2.

Summary of the comparative therapeutic advantages of Covaxin and Covishield

Properties	Covaxin	Covishield
Developed by	Bharat Biotech, Hyderabad, and ICMR	Based on the AstraZeneca-Oxford model, Serum Institute of India
Types	Inactivated virus vaccine	Nonreplicating viral vector vaccine
Composition	It consists primarily of the entire inactivated SARS-CoV-2 antigen (strain NIV-2020–770) and a 250-g aluminium hydroxide gel adjuvant [140]	Covishield (AZD1222), the ChAdOxl nCoV-19 vaccine is formulized by the adenovirus vector, and it carries an entire length of virus, which is inserted the coding sequence of the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 [148]
Efficacy rate	Covaxin has been found 78–80% effective	Covishield can be up to 90% effective
Antibody response	After the second dose of Covaxin, the level of IgG anti-spike antibody increased. Covaxin has lower efficacies after the first dose than Covishield. Covaxin can produce 80% antibodies in the body [133]	Single dose of Covishield, the number of IgG antibodies increased (peaking after 28 days). Covishield produces binding antibody immunoreactivity by increasing antibodies against the spike protein in most people 21 days after the first dose. Covishield can produce 98.1% antibodies [133]
Side effects	Localized side effects of Covaxin include pain and swelling at the injection site, whereas widespread side effects include upper arm stiffness, fever, fatigue, weakness, headache, nausea, vomiting, body discomfort, and rashes [182]	Localized effects include pain and tenderness, warmth, redness, swelling, or brushing at the injection site, and generalized effects include headache, fatigue, myalgia (muscle pain), malaise (generalized weakness), pyrexia (fever), chills, arthralgia (joint pain), nausea, and in rare cases, neurological complications [171]
Post-vaccination side effect	Lower than Covishield [133]	Higher in the case of Covishield [133]
Limitation	A person having acute illness and fever, pregnant women, and people who are on blood thinners should not take this vaccine [183]	If a person has a severe allergic reaction to any vaccine ingredient, he or she should not receive Covishield vaccination, and if a person has an allergic reaction after receiving the first dose of Covishield, he or she should not receive the second dose of this vaccine
Level the titer of antibodies	51 AU/ml	115 AU/ml
Doses	2-dose gap intervals 28 days or 4 weeks [133]	2 doses gap in 12 weeks [148]
Infected after vaccination	Approx. 2.2% [130]	Approx. 5.5% [130]