What to expect when you finally arrive at a centre for COVID-19 vaccination

With restricted emergency use authorisation being granted to two COVID-19 vaccines, the Centre is hoping to vaccinate 25-30 crore Indians by July.

Moneycontrol News

January 03, 2021 / 14:22 IST

File image: A nationwide dry run being held to test India's COVID-19 vaccine delivery system (Image: News18)

A massive COVID-19 vaccination exercise is expected to begin across India in the coming weeks with Covishield and Covaxin – developed by the Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech – getting a restricted emergency use authorisation.

This is expected to be one of the largest immunisation exercises undertaken anywhere in the world. Two rounds of dry runs have been conducted in the country to assess the preparedness of mechanism and fill gaps in procedures, if any.

The Centre has already shared operational guidelines with states and Union Territories detailing every single aspect of the vaccination exercise. The government is hoping to vaccinate 25-30 crore people by July.

Vaccination sequence

Healthcare workers: These include doctors, nurses, medical officers, paramedical staff and support staff.

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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