Coronavirus pandemic | Fear economy thrives on sale of masks, sanitisers

There is a long list of new brands that are entering the business of sanitisers, face masks, etc.

Moneycontrol News

March 19, 2020 / 16:13 IST

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Amid the coronavirus outbreak, which has hit the globe, marketplaces are witnessing the growth of ‘fear economy’, in which large and small business players are trying to cash in on items like face masks, sanitisers and sterile wipes, according to a Business Standard report.

Additionally, big and small medical players that are in the business of making thermal temperature gauging devices are sensing an opportunity in the wake of COVID-19 spread and jumping to capitalise on them, the report suggested.

Earlier, household hand-sanitisers were made by companies like UK-based Reckitt Benckiser (Dettol) and German firm Raman and Weil (industrial-grade versions like Sterillium)

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However, now, there is a long list of new brands that are entering the business of sanitisers, face masks, etc.

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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