India started its vaccination drive on 16th January 2021 by vaccinating the front-line workers including doctors, paramedical staff and police officials. As on 13th July 2021 total doses of 38,76,97,935 have been administered in the last 179 days or about six months. This gives an average of 21,65,910 doses every day. Even the 7 days moving average is 37,67,770. However India had One Day Show of vaccination with a total 87,29,3030 vaccine doses on 21st June 2021 when vaccination drive was made open to all citizens of 18 years and above. Many states are again witnessing long queues outside the vaccination centres.
It was really unfortunate that earlier people were not ready to vaccinate themselves against the coronavirus due to a lot of rumors, political propaganda and the media's enthusiasm to propagate the rumors until the Indian Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi himself didn’t take the first jab of the vaccine! The way the media has handled this issue, it is clear that Indian media outlets clearly lack the ability to judge between the right and wrong. They are always busy in the buzz without analyzing its impact on the social sphere.
Today, the number of new infections from the COVID19 has been hovering around 40,000 for more than three weeks. Numbers of active cases have fallen down to 4.25 lakhs with daily death falling to the 7 days average of around 800 (excluding 12th July data). So the risk of the third wave looms large at the face of India and many epidemiologists have already raised the alarm.
Earlier India was being appreciated for its vaccine diplomacy as India supplied vaccines to more than 86 countries in the world. However it drew a lot of criticism in Indian. But at present India is neither able to supply enough numbers of vaccine doses to its people nor is able supply to other countries for India has already taken money. Numbers of vaccines available in India are increasing but the numbers of doses available in India is not and this poses a big question on India’s vaccination strategy.
The speed at which India is vaccinating its people, it will take years to fully vaccinate even 100 crore people. Isn’t India sabotaging her recovery from the coronavirus pandemic with this casual and lenient attitude? If India continues to vaccinate its people at this speed, the answer to the above question would be affirmative whether it happens intentionally or not.
At this point of time, India needs to intensify its vaccination drive and should make the vaccination available to every adult else the cost would be even higher than the Great Depression or many wars!
Rajeev Upadhyay
Today, the number of new infections from the COVID19 has been hovering around 40,000 for more than three weeks. Numbers of active cases have fallen down to 4.25 lakhs with daily death falling to the 7 days average of around 800 (excluding 12th July data). So the risk of the third wave looms large at the face of India and many epidemiologists have already raised the alarm.
Earlier India was being appreciated for its vaccine diplomacy as India supplied vaccines to more than 86 countries in the world. However it drew a lot of criticism in Indian. But at present India is neither able to supply enough numbers of vaccine doses to its people nor is able supply to other countries for India has already taken money. Numbers of vaccines available in India are increasing but the numbers of doses available in India is not and this poses a big question on India’s vaccination strategy.
The speed at which India is vaccinating its people, it will take years to fully vaccinate even 100 crore people. Isn’t India sabotaging her recovery from the coronavirus pandemic with this casual and lenient attitude? If India continues to vaccinate its people at this speed, the answer to the above question would be affirmative whether it happens intentionally or not.
At this point of time, India needs to intensify its vaccination drive and should make the vaccination available to every adult else the cost would be even higher than the Great Depression or many wars!
Rajeev Upadhyay
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