THE RACE AGAINST TIME
RECALIBRATES ITS VACCINATION STRATEGY IN THE HOPE OF INOCULATING INDIA’S 900 MILLION ADULT POPULATION BY DECEMBER 31. HOW REALISTIC IS THIS TARGET?
WHEN WORD CAME THAT Prime Minister Narendra Modi would address the nation at 5 pm on June 7, the pandemic-afflicted nation was at a critical crossroads. On a positive note, the Second Wave was clearly on the wane, with new cases of Covid-19 infection dropping from the daily peak of 400,000 to under 100,000 by June 1. Yet, they were still higher than at the height of the first wave, which meant that the red signal remained on, and the unlockdown process had to be gradual. On the negative side, the carefully-calibrated Covid vaccination programme was threatening to descend into a self-inflicted anarchy.
The liberalised vaccine regime that the central government had announced on April 21 allowing states their own purchase and pricing for vaccinating the 18-44 year age group was failing. Even the Supreme Court termed it “irrational and arbitrary” and asked the Centre to roll it back. As the blame game between the Centre and states intensified, the month of May saw a substantial drop in vaccinations compared to April due to a shortage of doses. While the Centre boasted that India was among the top three nations in terms of total number of vaccinations—behind only China and the US—the fact remained that even after 136 days of vaccinations, as of June 1 only 41 million people, or 3 per cent of the country’s population had received both their doses.
The Modi government had also come under flak for its poor handling of the Second Wave. State governments, too, were not spared, especially over the collapse of critical care facilities for severe Covid patients in major cities and in rural areas. The situation was compounded by a deadly shortage of medical oxygen that saw fatalities double in comparison to the First Wave. The long queues outside crematoriums to dispose of the dead only added to the people’s anger and anguish.
