HomeNewsIndiaNiti Aayog starts campaign to 'protect' senior citizens during COVID-19

Niti Aayog starts campaign to 'protect' senior citizens during COVID-19

'Surakshit Dada-Dadi & Nana-Nani Abhiyan' is aimed at creating awareness about various aspects of senior citizens' health and lifestyle including preventive measures and requisite behavioral changes in view of COVID-19 pandemic.

May 05, 2020 / 20:30 IST
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Government think tank Niti Aayog in association with Piramal Foundation -- the philanthropic arm of the Piramal Group -- on Tuesday launched a campaign 'Surakshit Dada-Dadi & Nana-Nani Abhiyan' focussed on ensuring well-being of senior citizens during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The campaign will reach over 2.9 million senior citizens in 25 #AspirationalDistricts across Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, MP, Maharashtra, Rajasthan & UP; focusing on behaviour change, access to services, early detection & tracking of #COVID19 symptoms.#ApnoKaDhyaan," the Aayog tweeted.

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'Surakshit Dada-Dadi & Nana-Nani Abhiyan' is aimed at creating awareness about various aspects of senior citizens' health and lifestyle including preventive measures and requisite behavioral changes in view of COVID-19 pandemic.

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Frequently Asked Questions

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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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