India should prioritize vaccines for states and districts that are at greatest infection risk
India administered on 17 September A record 25 million vaccine shots, which an enthusiastic health ministry said is equivalent to the population of the whole of Australia, two-thirds that of Canada and five times that of New Zealand. The only other comparison would be China’s vaccination speed – 2.47 million shots a day. Thus, 2.5 crore means 62% of Indian adults have now received at least one dose And one in five were fully vaccinated. Friday’s campaign was part of a concerted effort by BJP-ruled states to boost vaccination numbers Birthday gift to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. But to encourage a behavioral nudge when supply is plentiful and not in line with demand – as in the US – and there is a marked supply shortfall, even as vaccine production continues – as in India – are two different things. According to a statement by the Department of Biotechnology in April, Bharat Biotech was to supply 6-7 crore doses a month from July-August and 100 million doses a month from September. That is, at least 52 crore doses by July-December, of which 40 crore are to be supplied by September-December. Since the vaccination campaign began, only nine crore doses of Covaxin have been given until last week – at least 30 million less. Several cabinet ministers claimed over the summer that India would vaccinate its adult population (about 94 crore) by the end of the year. This would require over 185 million doses, or about 10 million vaccinations a day; India has now crossed the 80 crore mark. India’s most recent seven-day average before the birthday drive was 0.6-0.7 crore. Bihar, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, which saw the highest vaccination spikes on September 17, delivered 6-10 times their previous seven-day average.
India is once again on the bottom as far as daily coronavirus numbers go, but the close to 30,000 cases a day is not near the all-time low of the nearly 10,000 daily cases in February that preceded the horrors. second wave. The delta variant, the most prevalent globally, has already swept large areas of India, but the emergence of immunocompromised and immune evasion variants is also flourishing. With the massive opening of educational institutions during winters and hundreds of millions of illiterate children being vulnerable, boosting the daily supply must be imperative. India is fortunate to have no clear vaccine doubts and hesitations so far and has only to bother with the production and distribution of the jab in a painless manner. Instead of setting vaccine drives as empty record-setting opportunities, the Center should prioritize vaccines to states and districts that are at greatest infection risk and work with vaccine manufacturers to expedite and meet their commitments. should be followed.
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