Hiccups greet the vaccination drive’s latest phase, which is poised to gather steam later this month
The much-awaited third phase of the anti-COVID inoculation drive for all adults sputtered to life on May 1. Ironically, at a time when India seemed to have got over its vaccine hesitancy — if the rush to register on the Co-WIN app is anything to go by — the Governments were unable to provide the citizens the shots they need to beat the virus. As a result, despite the alacrity shown by young India to get the jab, the drive has begun in fits and starts. While States like Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat began inoculating a lucky few, some States announced vaccination for different age groups also (such as for those above 35 years) while others told the people not to line up outside vaccination centres as they have not received enough stocks of the shots. Chief among the latter were Delhi, Odisha, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Punjab, who plan to launch the drive later this month. In the meantime, the Centre, trying its best to save face, has assured the people that the campaign will soon be operational across India as “any new exercise takes time to pick up pace”.
Even though the Union Health Ministry remains upbeat about the vaccine supply and 1,50,000 doses of the Russian-made Sputnik V landed in Hyderabad on May 1, this is just a drop in the ocean and in no way comforting. The million-dollar question is how many months will it take to inoculate all Indian adults? Of our 138 crore population, the 0-14 age group share is 26.16 per cent, 15-65 age group is 67.27 per cent and 6.57 per cent are more than 65 years old. What an uphill task lies ahead can be gauged by the fact that ever since the inoculation drive began on January 16, we have been able to fully vaccinate only two per cent of our citizens and 11 per cent have got just one dose. So, in order to be able to cover all the adults, India will have to administer 6.5 million doses per day till the end of this year. This is a big task, but do we have any other choice? Maybe it is time to listen to top US epidemiologist Anthony Fauci, who suggests ramping up vaccine production in India and a total lockdown for a few weeks to stop the surge. But not for six months like last year, because our economy cannot afford a body blow like that again. It may be worthwhile to listen to him. We don’t have anything more to lose, do we?
