HomeNewsIndiaPriyanka Gandhi slams UP govt's COVID response, says press meets playing like tape recorder will not work

Priyanka Gandhi slams UP govt's COVID response, says press meets playing like tape recorder will not work

The Congress general secretary has been criticising the state government's response to the COVID-19 crisis, alleging that it is indulging in propaganda, instead of dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.

July 20, 2020 / 17:52 IST
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Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Monday attacked the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh over its handling of the COVID-19 crisis, saying the state government's press conferences that "play like a tape recorder" will not work anymore and attention will have to be paid to the prevailing situation.

The Congress general secretary has been criticising the state government's response to the COVID-19 crisis, alleging that it is indulging in propaganda, instead of dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.

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"There are reports that beds in government hospitals of the two major cities of UP -- Lucknow and Gorakhpur -- are full. Coronavirus cases are rising and this condition of hospitals is worrying," Priyanka Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi.

"The concerns that were raised before the government three months ago are turning out to be real. Now, the UP government's press conferences that play like a tape recorder will not work. Attention will have to be paid to the prevailing situation," she said.

COVID-19 Vaccine
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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