EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

India’s floundering vaccine policy has been a case of one step forward and two steps back. Last week, amid much fanfare, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a televised address, took one step forward when he announced that the Centre will now procure 75 per cent of the available vaccines and distribute them free of cost to the states to vaccinate those who are 18 and above, while the remaining 25 per cent will be made available to the private sector for distribution, with clear pricing guidelines. This was a partial reversal of the earlier policy when, beginning May 1, states were encouraged to procure vaccines directly from the manufacturers and vaccine