HomeNewsPodcastCoronavirus Essential podcast | Serum Institute, Gates Foundation tie up for 10 crore vaccine doses at Rs 225 each; WHO warns against 'vaccine nationalism'

Coronavirus Essential podcast | Serum Institute, Gates Foundation tie up for 10 crore vaccine doses at Rs 225 each; WHO warns against 'vaccine nationalism'

Tune in to the Coronavirus Essential podcast with Sakshi Batra to catch all the top pandemic news of the day.

August 07, 2020 / 18:50 IST
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On August 7, the Serum Institute of India has tied up with Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to speed up the manufacture and delivery of up to 10 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccines for India and other low income countries by 2021.

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Meanwhile, the World Health Organization warned against "vaccine nationalism," referring to vaccine-hogging by wealthier countries. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that richer countries would not be safe if poor nations remained exposed.

Tune in to the Coronavirus Essential podcast with Sakshi Batra to catch all the top pandemic news of the day.

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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first published: Aug 7, 2020 06:50 pm

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