Persons aged above 45 years who have comorbidities are also eligible to get COVID-19 vaccine, but Indian Parliament does not maintain health record of its members.

Parliamentarians eligible to get vaccinated will get their COVID-19 vaccine shots at an exclusive vaccination centre set up for MPs inside the Parliament complex.

According to a Hindustan Times report, almost half of the 777 MPs in India, i.e. 366 parliamentarians, are eligible to get vaccinated against the novel coronavirus disease by virtue of being senior citizens.

To be precise, 47 percent of Indian MPs are aged above sixty years and are eligible to get vaccinated during the current phase of vaccine roll-out aimed at inoculating elderly persons. There are 62 percent Rajya Sabha members and 36 percent Lok Sabha members who are aged above 60 years and are eligible to get vaccinated.

Persons aged above 45 years who have comorbidities are also eligible to get COVID-19 vaccine, but Indian Parliament does not maintain health record of its members.

Lok Sabha Secretariate to set up a COVID-19 vaccination centre in Parliament House Medical Centre for vaccination of MPs & their family members; vaccination to take place from March 9 in accordance with prioritization as guided by National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration pic.twitter.com/rG70GAPlHR

— ANI (@ANI) March 6, 2021

A circular issued by the Lok Sabha read: “For the welfare of Members of Parliament, a COVID-19 vaccination centre has been set up in Parliament House Medical Centre from March 9.”

Vaccines will be administered to parliamentarians on all working days by trained healthcare workers, the circular stated.

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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Eligible MPs to get inoculated at exclusive vaccination centre inside Parliament complex

Forty seven percent Indian MPs are aged above sixty years and are eligible to get vaccinated during the current phase of COVID-19 vaccine roll-out aimed at inoculating elderly persons.

Persons aged above 45 years who have comorbidities are also eligible to get COVID-19 vaccine, but Indian Parliament does not maintain health record of its members.

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