File image: Maharashtra government is planning to vaccinate 100 beneficiaries every day in all 4,200 vaccination sites in the state.

While India is gearing up to rollout the COVID-19 vaccine, there remains some confusion among authorities in Maharashtra over adverse event management. Subhash Salunkhe, Maharashtra's technical advisor on COVID-19, said that there is a lack of clarity from the Centre on the management of any adverse events following immunisation (AEFI) and indemnity.

Salunkhe said that queries sent to the Centre regarding the management of adverse events and indemnity burden in case of any complaints or suits remained unanswered. "I have spoken to the state health directorate and they are unaware of any communication or guideline in writing from the ministry of health on the above issues," he told The Economic Times.

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He called for clarity on the indemnity issue if such an event was to occur. "We have been asking the Centre to design a proper communication strategy on this so that there is no adverse impact on the vaccination drive," the newspaper quoted him as saying.

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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COVID-19 vaccination: Maharashtra authorities claim lack of clarity on adverse events, indemnity

Subhash Salunkhe, Maharashtra's technical advisor on COVID-19 said queries sent to the Centre regarding the management of adverse events and indemnity burden remained unanswered.

File image: Maharashtra government is planning to vaccinate 100 beneficiaries every day in all 4,200 vaccination sites in the state.

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