COVID-19: India begins accepting foreign aid for the first time in 16 years

Around 16 years ago, Manmohan Singh had announced that New Delhi will not accept aid from foreign countries.

Moneycontrol News

April 29, 2021 / 02:56 PM IST

In a significant shift from the erstwhile policy of not accepting foreign aid, the India has started accepting fiscal aid, donations and gifts from countries as the country is battling to contain the spiraling COVID-19 cases and deaths.

With the massive rise in infections in the second wave of the pandemic, several states have been reeling under a severe shortage of medical oxygen, beds, ventilators and other medical supplies.

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Countries around the world have offered to send medical supplies to help India tide over the situation So far the list includes the US, Russia, France, Germany, Australia, Ireland, Belgium, Romania, Luxembourg, Singapore, Portugal, Sweden, New Zealand, Kuwait and Mauritius.

Besides these countries, India has also approved aid from neighbouring China. "India now has no conceptual problem in procuring oxygen-related equipment and life-saving medicines from China," a source told Indian Express. The government is, however, yet to decide on whether to accept help from Pakistan.

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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