HomeNewsIndiaCentre should procure as many vaccines as possible to keep children safe: Manish Sisodia

Centre should procure as many vaccines as possible to keep children safe: Manish Sisodia

The ruling AAP dispensation led by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has voiced concern over safety of children while citing opinion of experts that children may be affected in a possible third wave of COVID-19.

June 09, 2021 / 10:57 IST
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The Centre should move proactively to procure COVID-19 vaccines for children as many countries have started working on it, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said on Wednesday.

The ruling AAP dispensation led by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has voiced concern over safety of children while citing opinion of experts that children may be affected in a possible third wave of COVID-19.

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Sharing a newspaper report, Sisodia tweeted, "The world has started working on vaccine for children under age 12. Centre Govt should proactively do the needful to procure as many vaccines as possible to keep our children safe."

Currently, people aged 18 years and above are being vaccinated in India.

COVID-19 Vaccine
Frequently Asked Questions

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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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