India will not have to wait too long for COVID-19 vaccine, says PM Narendra Modi

During an all-party meeting on December 4, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said the government is forming a comprehensive vaccination strategy, and had indicated that a vaccine might be available in the coming few weeks.

Moneycontrol News

December 07, 2020 / 05:29 PM IST

Prime Minister Narendra Modi (Image: Twitter/@BJP4India)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 7 said Indians will not have to wait for a COVID-19 vaccine for "too long", but warned against laxity in prevention of coronavirus infection.

"One thing, which I will definitely remind you is that the wait for a vaccine is on, but in the past few days, I have met scientists, and feel that the country will not have to wait too long for it," the prime minister said as he inaugurated the phase one of the construction of Agra Metro project.

"However, there should be no laxity from our side as far as prevention of the infection is concerned. Masks and a distance of two yards is very necessary," he said.

Read: How India’S Ecosystem Is Gearing Up For A Smooth Rollout Of COVID-19 Vaccines

Earlier, during his meeting with chief ministers and representatives of states on November 24, Modi had discussed India’s vaccination strategy against COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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