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Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister Dr CN Ashwath Narayan on May 15 said a new app interfaced with CoWIN needs to be created for the vaccination drive of people in the 18-44 age group.

“With regard to administering vaccine for 18-44 years age group, a new app needs to be developed and this will be interfaced with CoWIN App. Later, the vaccination schedule will be prepared by taking into account the availability of vaccines,” news agency ANI quoted Narayan as saying. Narayan also heads the state’s COVID-19 task force.

The Karnataka deputy chief minister further said that a priority list will be prepared through the new vaccination portal. “This (priority list) may include those who are working in the postal department, agricultural department, bank employees, internet service providers, etc," Narayan said.

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Earlier, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had also urged the Centre to allow state governments to develop their own platforms for the vaccination programme.

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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Need new app for COVID-19 vaccination of 18-44 age group: Karnataka Deputy CM

Karnataka Deputy CM Dr CN Ashwath Narayan also said that a priority list comprising people working in the postal department, bank employees and internet service providers, among others, will be created in the new vaccination portal.

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