There have been a lot of expectations around the vaccine for COVID-19. While many hope for it to be out soon, and people to get cured, not many know that the process takes a lot of time. To give hope to people, it has been announced that the vaccine is ready. Well, there are different stages in the development of the vaccine and you have to know about it.

Pre-clinical trial: This is the first stage where the vaccine is given to an animal such as a monkey or a mouse to see the immune response.

Phase 1 trial: Experimental vaccine is given to a small number of humans to test dosage, safety and also to check the stimulations of the immune system.

Phase 2 trial: Vaccine is given to hundreds of people in this stage, and in different groups. Children and elderly will be preferred to be the first to check the response. Stimulation of the immune system will also be done in this stage.

Phase 3 trial: Side effects are the most important ones and to test those, the vaccine is given to thousands of people to check how many become infected will be compared with the ones who are receiving placebo. These trials will reveal whether the vaccine will protect them from the disease or not.

Approval: Regulators such as DCGI in India and FDA in US reviews the trial results and then approves for everyone. Especially during the pandemic, a vaccine might get an emergency authorisation before a normal approval.