The Hindu Editorial (Boosting confidence) – Feb 15, 2021

The downward trend in fresh coronavirus infections in India continues to inspire confidence that the pandemic is on the wane. For further reading, visit “The Hindu”. Below is today’s word list-1 for The Hindu Editorial (Boosting confidence) – Feb 15, 2021.

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The Hindu Editorial (Boosting confidence) – Feb 15, 2021:

vaccine (noun) – a biological preparation that improves immunity to a particular disease.
downward (adjective) – descending, decreasing, going down, sliding, falling.
coronavirus (CoV) (noun) – a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases. common signs of infection include respiratory symptoms, fever, cough, shortness of breath, and breathing difficulties. In more severe cases, the infection can cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure, and even death. (Courtesy: WHO)
pandemic (noun) – the worldwide spread of a new disease; The illness spreads around the world and typically affects a large number of people across a wide area.
on the wane (phrase) – decreasing, diminishing, contracting, declining.
fatality (noun) – death, casualty, mortality/loss.
propitious (adjective) – favourable, promising, optimistic, advantageous, hopeful.
turn of events (phrase) – development, incident, occurrence, happening, circumstance, phenomenon.
so far (phrase) – until now, up to the present, up to this point.
dose (noun) – an amount/quantity of something.
administer (verb) – dispense, provide, give, apply (a drug/vaccine).
frontline staff/worker/responder/personnel (noun) – a person who is among the first to arrive and provide assistance at the scene of an emergency. First/front line workers/responders typically include paramedics, emergency medical technicians, police officers, firefighters, sanitary workers & etc.
lot (noun) – batch, set, collection, consignment, quantity.
Oxford vaccine/Covishield (noun) – (ChAdOx1 nCoV-19) or (AZD1222) is a COVID-19 vaccine candidate developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca, UK Ltd. (named Covishield in India). Serum Institute of India (SII), a biotechnology company has partnered with global pharma giant AstraZeneca and Oxford University for this vaccine candidate ‘Covidshield’.
Covaxin (noun) – India’s first indigenous COVID-19 vaccine candidate (COVAXIN) developed by a Hyderabad-based company (Bharat Biotech) in collaboration with the ICMR (The Indian Council of Medical Research).
commission (verb) – order, put in an order for, place an order for; bring something (newly produced) into use.
neighbouring (adjective) – adjacent.
for now (phrase) – for the time being, for the present, for the moment.
far (adverb) – much, considerably, greatly, significantly.
vaccination (noun) – treatment with a vaccine to protect against a particular disease; immunization.
inoculate (verb) – to inject/introduce a vaccine into the body of someone to produce immunity to a particular disease; immunize, vaccinate.
show up (phrasal verb) – turn up, arrive, come, be present.
co-morbidity (noun) – the presence of one or more additional conditions (diseases/problems) co-occurring/co-existing with a primary condition (disease/problem).
likely (adverb) – probably, in all probability, presumably.
(be) a far cry from (phrase) – to be entirely different from something.
under way (phrase) – in progress, happening, occurring, taking place.
equate to (verb) – correspond, be equivalent, amount to.
the vanishing (noun) – disappearance, end.
ongoing (adjective) – continuing, happening, occurring.
serology (noun) – a method of diagnostic examination of blood serum concerning the immune system’s response to pathogens (the pathogen is something, like bacteria/virus, that causes disease). (serum is an amber (yellowish-orange), watery fluid, rich in proteins, obtained from blood that has coagulated whereas plasma is a clear yellowish fluid part of the blood, contains blood clotting agents-Fibrinogen).
Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) (noun) – the apex body in India for the formulation, coordination and promotion of biomedical research, is one of the oldest medical research bodies in the world. As early as in 1911, the Government of India set up the Indian Research Fund Association (IRFA) with the specific objective of sponsoring and coordinating medical research in the country. It was redesignated in 1949 as the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). The ICMR is funded by the Government of India through the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.
prevalence (noun) – it refers to the number of cases of a disease that are present in a particular population at a given time whereas “incidence” refers to the number of new cases that develop in a given period of time.
antibody (noun) – it is also called ‘immunoglobulin’; a protective protein produced mainly by plasma (blood) cells in the immune system in response to the presence of antigens (disease causing organisms (bacteria & viruses) and other harmful/toxic foreign substances like insect venom).
expose (verb) – be subjected to something (infectious agents & others).
variant (noun) – different or form or version or mutant of something (virus).
prevalent (adjective) – widespread, usual/common, ubiquitous.
can ill-afford (phrase) – to prevent something from happening because it would be embarrassing and cause problems (if it happens).
complacent (adjective) – careless, casual, unconcerned, uninterested, apathetic, perfunctory; smug, self-satisfied, pleased/proud of oneself, self-opinionated, satisfied, pleased, contented.
dreaded (adjective) – frightening, frightful, terrifying.
mutation (noun) – a significant and basic “alteration/variation” in the DNA sequence.
E484K mutation (noun) – The E484K mutation is not a new variant in itself, it’s a mutation which occurs in different variants and has already been found in the South African (B.1.351) and Brazilian (B.1.1.28) variants. The mutation is in the spike protein and appears to have an impact on the body’s immune response and, possibly, vaccine efficacy. E484K is called an escape mutation because it helps the virus slip past the body’s immune defences.
N440K mutation (noun) – India, too, has wide variants of the novel coronavirus. It was found that out of the 86 immune escape variants found widely distributed in different countries, India has 19 variants currently. With N440K having the highest frequency in India of 2.1%. This variant has the highest prevalence in the state of Andhra Pradesh.
evade (verb) – avoid, dodge, elude, escape.
in spite of (phrase) – despite, notwithstanding, regardless of.
consortium (noun) – association, alliance, union, partnership. Consortia is a plural form of a consortium.
adhere to (verb) – abide by, follow, obey, comply with.
given (preposition) – considering, taking into account, bearing in mind.
uncertainty (noun) – unpredictability, unreliability, riskiness/precariousness.
evolution (noun) – development, advancement, growth, rise, progress.
considerable (adjective) – substantial, a lot of, significant, much.
hesitancy (noun) – reluctance, unwillingness, disinclination.
vaccine hesitancy (noun) – a reluctance or refusal to be vaccinated or to have one’s children vaccinated; reluctance or refusal to vaccinate despite the availability of vaccines.
furnish (verb) – provide, give.
efficacy (noun) – In medicine, the ability of an intervention (for example, a drug or surgery) to produce the desired beneficial effect; effectiveness, efficiency, power.