Learning from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Centre may create a special fund called the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Samvardhan Nidhi to strengthen the health infrastructure in the country, said sources on January 12.

While the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has prepared a draft proposal to create the health sector fund, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is likely to make an announcement in this regard in the Union Budget 2021-22 on February 1, the sources added.

According to the proposal, it will be a non-lapsable fund in the Public Account, which means the amount kept in the fund will not lapse at the end of a financial year. Collections under the health and education cess will be directed to this proposed fund.

Currently, the government levies 4 percent health and education cess on income tax and corporate tax. Out of which 3 percent is education cess and one percent is health cess. Accordingly, 25 percent of the total collection under the health and education cess will go to this proposed fund.

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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 impact | Separate fund for health sector soon, likely announcement in Budget 2021

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has prepared a draft proposal to create the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Samvardhan Nidhi, and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is likely to make an announcement in this regard in the Union Budget 2021-22.

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