US lawmakers hail move to send COVID-19 vaccines to India, other countries

I applaud the Biden Administration's commitment to getting COVID-19 vaccines to countries that need them most, Senator John Cornyn, Co-Chair of the Senate India Caucus said.

PTI

June 05, 2021 / 08:28 IST

(Image: AFP)

Top American lawmakers on Friday applauded the Biden Administration for its decision to distribute 25 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to India and other countries.

I applaud the Biden Administration's commitment to getting COVID-19 vaccines to countries that need them most, Senator John Cornyn, Co-Chair of the Senate India Caucus said.

As Co-Chair of the Senate India Caucus, I believe this is an excellent opportunity to help India respond to their current, dangerous surge, Cornyn said in a tweet.

In a tweet, Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith said as India fights its COVID-19 crisis, it's important to continue to share extra US vaccines to help its friend and important ally.

A return to normalcy and an eventual end to this brutal pandemic will require some global cooperation, Hyde-Smith 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