Railways delivers more than 510 metric tonnes of liquid medical oxygen; Madhya Pradesh first to receive supply

So far, Indian Railways has delivered 202 metric tonnes to Uttar Pradesh, 174 metric tonnes to Maharashtra, 70 metric tonnes to Delhi and Madhya Pradesh 64 metric tonnes.

Moneycontrol News

April 28, 2021 / 07:06 PM IST

The Indian Railways has successfully delivered more than 510 metric tonnes liquid medical oxygen (LMO) to Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh & Delhi as of April 27.

According to a statement from the government, Madhya Pradesh is the first state to receive its consignment via the Oxygen Express.

"Madhya Pradesh has received its first Oxygen Express carrying more than 64 metric tonnes of liquid medical oxygen today early morning. These tankers were unloaded at various locations in Madhya Pradesh in cities like Jabalpur (1 Tanker), Bhopal (2 Tankers) & Sagar (3 Tankers)," it said.

The fourth oxygen expressed destined for Lucknow will be reaching today, carrying with it three tankers of LMO.

Haryana has also requested the Railways for oxygen express. As of now, it is planned that 2 Oxygen Express with a capacity of 5 tankers each will be run specifically for Haryana, the government has said.

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.

Show