Tamil Nadu to float global tenders for COVID-19 vaccines

The government has also asked industries and medical departments to immediately set up more units to produce oxygen and also procure it from steel plants in other states.

Moneycontrol News

May 13, 2021 / 10:42 IST

MK Stalin (File image: Twitter/@arivalayam)

The Tamil Nadu government on May 12 said that global tenders would be floated to procure COVID-19 vaccines and all steps taken expeditiously to inoculated people in the 18-45 age group.

Newly elected Chief Minister MK Stalin also ordered industries and medical departments to immediately set up more units to produce oxygen and also procure it from steel plants in other states which would be brought to the southern state through trains.

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Karnataka and Telangana are among the states that have decided to go in for global tenders to buy COVID-19 vaccines as shortages hamper the vaccination drive in the country.

After a meeting chaired by Stalin to review the coronavirus situation in the state, the government said an allocation of about 13 lakh vaccine doses was not sufficient to cover all those in the 18-45 age group. Hence, "the government has decided to go in for global bids to procure vaccines", an official release 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.

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