Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij won't take COVID-19 vaccine; here's why

Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij had contracted novel coronavirus disease on December 5 last year, a month after receiving a trial shot of the vaccine.

Moneycontrol News

March 01, 2021 / 14:36 IST

File image of Haryana minister and BJP leader Anil Vij

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi took his first shot of Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin at AIIMS on March 1, Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij tweeted that he will not “need” a COVID-19 vaccine.

“Today corona vaccine is starting for the people. Now there should be no hesitation at all. I will not be able to receive a dose as, after a COVID infection, my antibody count is 300 which is a lot. Maybe the trial vaccine I had taken had a role in that. I don’t need vaccine right now,” Vij tweeted in Hindi.

आज आम जनता के लिए कोरोना वैक्सीन शुरू होने जा रही है । सब को निस्संकोच लगवानी चाहिए । मैं तो नही लगवा पाऊंगा क्योंकि कोविड होने के बाद मेरी एंटीबाडी 300 बनी है जोकि बहुत ज्यादा है । शायद मैंने जो ट्रायल वैक्सीन लगवाई थी इसमे उसका भी योगदान हो । मुझे अभी वैक्सीन की जरूरत नही है ।
— ANIL VIJ MINISTER HARYANA (@anilvijminister) March 1, 2021

Also Read: COVID-19 vaccination guide: How to register, book appointment on Co-WIN portal and other key points

The Haryana minister on November 20 had offered to be the first volunteer in the phase three trials for Bharat Biotech's Covaxin. However, he contracted COVID-19 on December 5. While this caused a lot of stir, it was later clarified that he had taken only one dose and the second was pending.

India began the third and the largest phase of vaccination drive against COVID-19 on March 1, which will reach out to around 27 crore of population aged above 60 or above 45 with comorbid conditions.

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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