BJP labels Trinamool Congress ‘vaccine thief’ as two ruling party MLAs get jabs

BJP leaders attacked TMC after Burdwan MLAs Rabindranath Chatterjee and Subhash Mondal were seen getting COVID-19 vaccine shots meant for healthcaren and frontline workers.

Moneycontrol News

January 18, 2021 / 11:03 PM IST

BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari label former party TMC "tika chor"

Trinamool Congress turncoat Suvendu Adhikari labelled West Bengal’s ruling party “tika chor” (vaccine thief) after two TMC leaders from Burdwan received COVID-19 shots that were meant for healthcare and frontline workers.

Lashing out at the Trinamool Congress over TMC MLAs Rabindranath Chatterjee and Subhash Mondal getting vaccinated out of turn, Adhikari wrote on Twitter: “‘Frontline healthcare worker’ or ‘frontline politician’? The kings of cut money @AITCofficial are leaving nothing behind! Instead of following the national policy of vaccinating healthcare workers first, #TikaChorTMC is stealing #CovidVaccines from those who need it the most.”

BJP IT Cell head Amit Malviya also attacked West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over the issue and tweeted: “First, they stole ration meant for the poor, then they stole money meant for post-Amphan reconstruction, now they are snatching away priority COVID vaccines sent by Modi government for frontline health workers! Only Pishi’s party has this rare distinction.”

Meanwhile, Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh said: “The vaccines sent by the Central government are for healthcare staffers, police personnel and other frontline workers who are serving the society in the pandemic situation. Nearly 3.5 crore vials were dispatched by the Centre across the country. These doses are not meant for political leaders.”

TMC secretary-general Partha Chatterjee has responded to the jibes saying: “It is election time. The BJP’s only agenda is to carry out personal attacks. It is the Centre that is not adequately supplying COVID vaccines to West Bengal. It is keeping control over the supplies. If needed, the state government will bear the cost of administering the vaccine to every person in the state.”

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