G20 Summit: PM Modi calls for coordinated global efforts to fight COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic is the biggest challenge the world is facing since World War-II and is an important turning point in the history of humanity, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at the G20 summit

Moneycontrol News

November 21, 2020 / 23:32 IST

PM Narendra Modi (File image: PTI)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 21 attended the 15th G20 Summit chaired by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, under the theme 'Realising the Opportunities of 21st Century for All', via video conferencing.

The Prime Minister highlighted that coordinated global efforts will lead to faster recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic is the biggest challenge the world is facing since World War-II and is an important turning point in the history of humanity, Prime Minister Modi said at the summit.

PM Modi said "Work from Anywhere" is a new normal in the post-COVID world and urged for the creation of a virtual G20 secretariat.

He also thanked Saudi Arabia for hosting the virtual summit on Twitter.

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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