India’s focus should be on large number of vaccinations per day and not on record high
On Friday 27th August, India sets new record for one day vaccination – 10.7 million doses, 8.3 million vaccinations in the last two days and over 6.3 million doses on 23-24 August. However, that number fell sharply to 7.9 million on Saturday; 3.4 million doses were given on 29 August, but a lower number has always been recorded on Sunday. found a similar pattern June 21 – 8.7 million doses In a single day, that dropped to 5.8 million the next day and held steady at over six million for a week; The number of doses administered fell to three million-four million doses in the first half of July. The record of 21 June appeared to coincide with the day when Revised COVID-19 vaccination strategy comes into forceThat is, the government bought 75% of the vaccines produced and supplied them free of cost to the states. Although the August 27 record does not match by any chance, it suggests that the intention was more to achieve a “significant achievement” of crossing the 10 million mark; The huge drop in vaccination the very next day raises doubts. During a pandemic, the focus should not be on setting records, but on consistently vaccinating large numbers of people every day and ensuring that vaccines are available at all centers every day; Uncertainty in vaccine availability does not help increase uptake, especially among the poor.
A welcome spike: On India’s COVID-19 vaccination record
With vaccination being a safe and sure way to reduce the risk of hospitalization due to severe COVID-19 illness and death, an effort should be made to have a large number of rapid and frequent immunizations each day. For this, there is a need for equitable and regular supply of large number of doses to all the states. One sure way to increase the number of daily doses is when the government procures 100% of the vaccines produced without separate allocation to private hospitals. Precious time and doses were wasted between May and 15 July, when private hospitals used only 7%–9% of the vaccines produced against an allocation of 25%. The government has lately amended the June 7 policy so that manufacturers will not segregate 25% of vaccines produced for private hospitals but will supply as per demand and allocate the rest to the government. If the rationale for allowing manufacturers to sell vaccines to private hospitals at a higher price was to fund vaccine research, then the small uptick by private hospitals does not serve that purpose. Therefore, the government should procure all vaccines produced as this will help states have better vaccine allocation, reduce and increase vaccine disparity, and allow states to plan daily vaccination strategies in a more organized manner.
.