PM Narendra Modi to discuss COVID-19 vaccine rollout with chief ministers today

The virtual meeting between PM Narendra Modi and the chief ministers comes with just a few days to go for the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine across the country.

Moneycontrol News

January 11, 2021 / 08:15 IST

Prime Minister Narendra Modi (File image: Twitter/@BJP4India)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet chief ministers of all states and Union territories virtually to discuss the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine on January 11, news reports suggest.

PM Modi and the chief ministers are also expected to discuss the current COVID-19 situation in the country, in the virtual conference reportedly scheduled for 4.00 pm. Multiple meetings between the prime minister and chief minister, or representatives of states, have been held since the beginning of the pandemic.

On January 9, the Centre had announced that the vaccination drive will begin on January 16. This came after multiple rounds of dry runs across the country meant to assess procedures and preparedness of vaccine administrators.

Priority in the nationwide exercise will be given to healthcare and frontline workers. The government is hoping to vaccinate 25-30 crore people by July.

India had reported more than 1.04 crore COVID-19 cases as of January 10, including 1.5 lakh deaths due to the outbreak. While over 1 crore patients had recovered, around 2.2 lakh cases remained ‘active’. Globally, more than 8.97 crore individuals have been infected by the virus and over 19.29 lakh people have died 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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