Coronavirus update | You may get a call from ‘1921’ as part of a government survey

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As a part of its fight against the novel coronavirus pandemic outbreak, the Government of India will be conducting telephonic surveys to fathom the COVID-19 situation in the country.

The survey will be conducted by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) and all citizens across the country will be receiving calls on their cellphones from the number ‘1921’. It is being conducted to “enable proper feedback of the prevalence and distribution of COVID-19 symptoms”.

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The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare announced the same in a notification released on April 22, but the date of commencement of the drive has not been announced yet.

The announcement was made to ensure that all citizens participate in the initiative and not ignore the calls by mistaking them as ‘spam’.

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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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A Telephonic Survey on #COVID19 is being undertaken where you shall receive calls on your mobile from 1921 number.
Please participate in this survey with your information.#SwasthaBharat #IndiaFightsCorona pic.twitter.com/EEJqX9MPyi

— Ministry of Health #StayHome #StaySafe (@MoHFW_INDIA) April 22, 2020

It has additionally urged the health departments of all states and union territories to share the same information on their respective websites to spread the word and prevent any phishing attempt.

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