Free COVID-19 vaccine for all Indians: Rahul Gandhi demands jabs that cost nothing, explains meaning of 'free'

India's vaccination campaign is all set to get a major boost from May 1 when everyone above the age of 18 will be eligible for the jab.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi reiterated his demand of providing free vaccine against COVID-19 disease to all the Indians by explaining the meaning of “free” and giving an example of how to use it in a sentence on April 29.

“free /friː/…adjective, adverb…costing nothing, or not needing to be paid for. e.g.- India must get free COVID vaccine. All citizens must receive the inoculation free of charge,” tweeted the former Congress president

free /friː/
adjective, adverb

costing nothing, or not needing to be paid for. e.g.-
• India must get free COVID vaccine.

• All citizens must receive the inoculation free of charge.

Let’s hope they get it this time. #vaccine

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COVID-19 Vaccine

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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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— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) April 29, 2021

India's vaccination campaign is all set to get a major boost from May 1 when everyone above the age of 18 will be eligible for the jab.

Maharashtra, which is leading in the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the country, Gujarat, Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Assam and several other states have said they will provide free vaccination to all.

COVID-19 vaccination: These states will provide free jabs for all eligible beneficiaries

Earlier, Gandhi hit out at the government over the "high" COVID vaccine prices, saying the system has once again failed Indian citizens. "People's money was given to vaccine companies to develop COVID vaccines. Now, GOI will make the same people pay the highest price in the world for these vaccines," he alleged on Twitter on April 28.

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The Wayanad MP has been asking for free vaccination of all. "Enough of discussion. All citizens of the country should get vaccine for free. Don't make India a victim of the BJP's system," Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi on April 26. In another tweet, he hit out at the government to say that at least it has managed to control the truth about the pandemic.

"Like employment and development, the central government is not allowing the real data of corona to reach the public. If not the pandemic, at least the truth about the epidemic has been controlled," he said in a tweet in Hindi.

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