Adar Poonawalla, CEO of vaccine maker Serum Institute, has a message for Novak Djokovic

Unvaccinated tennis player Novak Djokovic has said that though he is not against COVID-19 vaccines, he will skip tournaments if compelled to take the jab.

Moneycontrol News

February 18, 2022 / 16:20 IST

Tennis star Novak Djokovic had been deported from Australia in January after a huge controversy over his unvaccinated status.

Adar Poonawalla, the chief executive officer of Pune-based vaccine maker Serum Institute of India, hopes that tennis star Novak Djokovic will change his mind about coronavirus vaccines.

The unvaccinated tennis player has said that though he is not against vaccines, he will skip Grand Slam tournaments if compelled to take the jab.

Novak Djokovic, the world number one tennis player, had been disqualified from defending his Australian Open title in January. A federal court had turned down his plea challenging the Australian government's decision to cancel his visa for not being vaccinated. He was barred from entering Australia for three years.

On Thursday, Adar Poonawalla posted a video of him playing tennis, with a message for the Serbian champion.

“I respect your personal views on not getting vaccinated and love watching you play, but I hope you change your mind, Poonawalla tweeted. “In the meantime, the rest of us now might stand a chance at a Grand Slam.”

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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