VACCINE VAGARIES

Beginning May 1, the Great Indian Vaccine Roll-out will now cover millions of people in the 18-44 age bracket across the country in the inoculation drive against Covid-19. Except that the numbers are humongous and will be a lot more challenging than holding a general election or even taking a citizens’ headcount in the decadal Census. When it was launched on January 16, the phased rollout of the programme was in sync with the availability of Covid vaccines in the country. The first priority was the healthcare and frontline workers dealing with the pandemic. Then it was the turn of those above 60 years where mortality rates were the highest for the virus. So far, so good. The nation could easily meet the demand as vaccine hesitancy saw only half the numbers of the eligible group enrol. The ready availability of vaccine stocks also meant that India could export 65 million doses to needy nations.

Things began to go awry in late March when the government lowered the age for vaccine eligibility to 45 years and above from April 1 and demand began outstripping supply. Central government officials defended themselves by pointing out that India had vaccinated over 143 million people, and while it was not the largest number (the US and China have inoculated more), it was still the fastest in terms of the number of days taken. What those figures masked was the uncomfortable fact that they covered barely 1.5 per cent of the population. Of those reckoned as most vulnerable (above 60), only 50 per cent of an estimated 120 million have