Coronavirus lockdown | Govt's fresh guidelines to help ease operations of pharma companies, medical device makers

Manufacturing units of essential goods, including drugs, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, medical oxygen and their raw material and intermediates will be allowed to function subject to social distancing norms specified by the government.

Viswanath Pilla

April 15, 2020 / 12:26 IST

Representative Image (AP)

The Ministry of Home Affairs on April 15 issued fresh guidelines that may ease restrictions on the manufacture and supply of medicines and medical devices after April 20.

Manufacturing units of essential goods, including drugs, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, medical oxygen and their raw material and intermediates will be allowed to function subject to social distancing norms specified by the government.

Manufacturing units of packaging material was also allowed. E-pharmacies can now operate without any restriction on their timing of opening and closure as they come under e-commerce services.

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Private vehicles for emergency services, including medical and veterinary care, and for procuring essential commodities are allowed.

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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Coronavirus lockdown | Govt's fresh guidelines to help ease operations of pharma companies, medical device makers

Manufacturing units of essential goods, including drugs, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, medical oxygen and their raw material and intermediates will be allowed to function subject to social distancing norms specified by the government.

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Coronavirus lockdown | Govt's fresh guidelines to help ease operations of pharma companies, medical device makers

Manufacturing units of essential goods, including drugs, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, medical oxygen and their raw material and intermediates will be allowed to function subject to social distancing norms specified by the government.

Related Stories

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