HomeNewsPodcastCoronavirus Essential podcast | PM Modi receives first dose of Covaxin; CoWin app glitches slow vaccine rollout

Coronavirus Essential podcast | PM Modi receives first dose of Covaxin; CoWin app glitches slow vaccine rollout

Tune in to this podcast for the top updates on the ongoing pandemic.

March 01, 2021 / 19:04 IST
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On March 1, Prime Minister Narendra Modi received his first dose of vaccine against the COVID-19 disease at All India Institute of Medical Science Delhi, the first day of the second phase of the vaccination drive in which everyone above 60 years of age and those over 45 years with comorbidities will be able to get the vaccine.

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The Co-WIN portal faced minor glitches on March 1, just as registration for the vaccination drive commenced. Starting at 9.00 am, eligible beneficiaries were able to register on the Co-WIN 2.0 portal for immunisation.

Tune in to the Coronavirus Essential podcast with Shraddha Sharma for more.

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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