COVID-19 Vaccine Update | Uttar Pradesh, Assam to provide free vaccination to all above 18 years

Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that funds collected in the Assam Arogya Nidhi in 2020 will be used for procurement of COVID-19 vaccines.

Moneycontrol News

April 21, 2021 / 10:08 IST

The Uttar Pradesh and Assam governments announced on April 20 that they would administer the COVID-19 vaccine free of cost to all those above 18 years of age from May 1. (Representative image: Reuters)

Soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation speaking about the importance of COVID-19 vaccination, the governments of Uttar Pradesh and Assam announced that they would provide free jabs to all citizens above 18 years of age from May 1.

The Uttar Pradesh government on April 20 said it will administer the COVID-19 vaccine free of cost to all those above 18 years of age from May 1. The decision was taken at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

The Cabinet also thanked PM Modi for allowing administration of the vaccine against COVID-19 to those above the age of 18.

Everyone above 18 years of age will be eligible to get vaccinated against COVID-19 from May 1, the central government announced on April 19 as it liberalised the vaccination drive to allow states, private hospitals and industrial establishments to procure the doses directly from manufacturers.

Read | COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker: Over 29 lakh people in India get jabbed on April 20, more than 13 crore shots administered so far

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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