Budget 2021: Allocation for health and wellbeing up 137%; here’s a breakdown

The government also plans to strengthen and intensify nutritional outcomes across 112 aspirational districts with the launch of Mission Poshan 2.0 by merging the Supplementary Nutrition Programme and the Poshan Abhiyan.

Chaitanya Mallapur

February 01, 2021 / 17:06 IST

Amidst the pandemic, budgetary allocation for the health sector in the Union Budget 2021 was expected to see a rise. The allocation for the health and wellbeing sector has registered a 137 percent increase from Rs 94,452 crore in the budget estimate (BE) of 2020-21 to Rs 2,23846 crore in BE 2021-22.

The budget proposal rests on six pillars, one of which is health and wellbeing, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman emphasised in her speech.

Allocations for the coming FY increased by 160 percent against the actual expenditure of Rs 86,259 crore during 2019-20.

India’s health expenditure as a percentage of GDP had increased to 1.8 percent in BE 2020-21, compared to 1.5 percent in Revised Estimate 2019-20 and 1.2 percent in 2014-15.

To further strengthen the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, the government has allocated Rs 35,000 crore for COVID-19 vaccine, with additional funds to be released if required. The finance minister also announced the rollout of Pneumococcal Vaccine that will help avert more than 50,000 child deaths annually.

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