COVID-19 | No vaccine shortage in any part of the country, says Union health minister Harsh Vardhan

Earlier in the day Union health minister Harsh Vardhan chaired a virtual meeting with 11 state and union territories health ministers to take stock of COVID-19 pandemic situation in the country.

Moneycontrol News

April 06, 2021 / 10:03 PM IST

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan (Image: Twitter/@drharshvardhan)

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on April 6 that there is no COVID-19 vaccine shortage in any part of the country and that the government is providing required quantities all over India.

Assuring the country, the minister said the government will continually replenish the vaccine stock and exhorted the states to vaccinate the prioritized groups in a mission mode. “There is no vaccine shortage in any part of the country. The Centre is providing the required quantities to all states and union territories," he stated

Earlier in the day Union health minister Harsh Vardhan chaired a virtual meeting with 11 state and union territories health ministers to take stock of COVID-19 pandemic situation in the country.

In the high-level meeting, Vardhan said, "The measures to prevent and contain COVID19 are not rocket science! We have successfully adopted these measures all of last year and shown the world our success story”.

The same measures have to be reinforced and implemented with more rigour and commitment by the States and the people, he pointed out. They form the fundamental pillars of our fight against COVID-19"

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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