COVID-19 vaccine may be ready by March 2021, says Health Minister Harsh Vardhan
"I will be the first to offer myself for receiving COVID-19 vaccine if people have a trust deficit (in it)," Harsh Vardhan said
by Moneycontrol NewsUnion Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on September 13 said that while no date has been fixed yet on launching of the COVID-19 vaccine, it may be ready by the first quarter of 2021.
The minister was addressing the first episode of his Sunday Samvaad, a social media interaction programme.
"A consensus on emergency authorisation for COVID-19 vaccine is likely soon," he said, adding that frontline healthcare workers, senior citizens and persons with comorbidities will be given priority.
"I will be the first to offer myself for receiving COVID-19 vaccine if people have a trust deficit (in it)," Vardhan said.
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.
While commenting on the price of the vaccine, the minister said it is premature to decide on that at this stage, but "the Government of India will assure that the vaccine will be made available to those who need it the most, irrespective of their paying capacity," Hindustan Times reported.
Vardhan said the National Digital Health Mission (NDHM) is one of the most ambitious programmes of the government and is set to catapult the country to the position of a global leader in the field of digital health, according to a statement issued by the Union health ministry.
"However, there are vested interests that do not want India to succeed and are spearheading a disinformation campaign against the NDHM," he was quoted as saying in the statement.
Vardhan was answering questions from his social media followers.