Marico co-founder Harsh Mariwala optimistic about economic recovery

Harsh Mariwala spelt out reasons for his belief that is increased vaccinations and high seropositivity are reasons for this belief, and added that experts told him the delta variant "could be milder"

Moneycontrol News

August 27, 2021 / 14:00 IST

The Marico co-founder urged everyone to follow safety protocols to stop mutation of the COVID-19 virus. (Image: Harsh Mariwala / Moneycontrol)

Harsh Mariwala, in a social media post said he is "more optimistic" about economic recovery from here on. The Marico co-founder said increased vaccinations and high seropositivity are reasons for this belief, and added that experts told him the delta variant "could be milder".

Nonetheless, he also urged everyone to follow safety protocols to stop mutation of the COVID-19 virus.

“From here onwards, I'm more optimistic of economic recovery because, increased vaccinations, high seropositivity rate, experts tell me that the delta variant could be milder. Regardless, we must keep following safety protocols to ensure that the virus doesn't mutate!” he tweeted.

In recent months, economic growth has shown some signs of recovery compared to the massive contraction witnessed in the first wave of COVID-19. After a 7.3 percent contraction in FY2020-21, the GDP growth is expected to pick up in the ongoing fiscal, at least by 9 percent, according to most conservative estimates.

A report by ICRA Ratings also gave a similar outlook on the economy as COVID-19 related restrictions by the states have eased. The unlocking in the country has manifested itself in improving performance across various high frequency industrial and service sector indicators, mobility and toll collections in July 2021, according to a report by ICRA Ratings.

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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