Coronavirus pandemic | PM Modi assures India's support to South Africa for essential medical supplies

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday assured India's support to South Africa in maintaining essential medical supplies to fight the novel coronavirus pandemic.

"Had a good discussion with President @CyrilRamaphosa about the COVID-19 challenge, and assured India's support to South Africa for maintaining essential medical supplies," the prime minister tweeted.

Had a good discussion with President @CyrilRamaphosa about the COVID-19 challenge, and assured India’s support to South Africa for maintaining essential medical supplies.

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— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 17, 2020

The prime minister also discussed the global health crisis with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.

"Discussed on phone with President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi @AlsisiOfficial about the COVID-19 situation in India and Egypt. India will extend all possible support to Egypt's efforts to control the spread of the virus and its impact," Modi said in another tweet.

Discussed on phone with President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi @AlsisiOfficial about the COVID-19 situation in India and Egypt. India will extend all possible support to Egypt’s efforts to control the spread of the virus and its impact.

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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— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 17, 2020

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