Need of the Hour, India must Vaccinate more number of People Daily

Since January, 2021, our nation has been vaccinating its citizens with Covid vaccines manufactured domestically in a phased manner. First, it vaccinated high risk population, later 60+ and starting April, those who are 45 years and above, are eligible to register for the Covid-19 vaccines.

As of April 10th, our nation has been successful in delivering above 100 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine; India was the 1st nation to achieve this milestone in less period of time. However, there has been talk, India must scale, as there is greater need to speed up the vaccination delivery.

India must vaccinate more number of people and the only way to get this done, would be to have more number of vaccinations happening daily. It is also important to understand that the rationale to scale up strategy, it should be solely based on a scientific approach at the same time; it must maintain quality, integrity and process safety.

India is considered as a global hub for vaccine manufacturing and it has been leading supplier to the entire world. Estimates suggest range is about 70 to 80 million doses per month; this is the indigenous capacity for the Covid-19 vaccines. India, plans to ramp up its production because many other nations are looking towards India to export vaccines, so that they can meet their urgent requirements. One must understand vaccine production is complex process and manufacturing capacity cannot increase in short period. Other requirements also cannot be met in short time, specialized skilled human resources, financial resources and systems in place. Most importantly Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) must be followed.

Secondly, government must deploy enough trained vaccinators. The authorities are very well aware that, the Universal Immunization Programme workforce will not suffice to roll out the Covid-19 vaccination programme. All health workers who are involved in the implementation of the vaccine should have adequate knowledge as well as skills to ensure safe as well as efficient vaccine administration.

Training health workers are critical to address vaccine hesitancy as well as build public trust. However, this is a mammoth task; it involves state and district programme managers, vaccination officers, medical officers, education and communication officers, supervisors, cold chain handlers, ASHA workers, data managers and Mahila Arogya Samitis.

Thirdly, we require vaccination centers that are both acceptable and accessible. These centers must have adequate space for mandatory monitoring for any adverse events, instantly following vaccination. Presently, even the private sector facilities are also administering the vaccine. This needs an extraordinary level of coordination as well as preparedness at each center.

Vaccine equity is very critical, for our nation, prioritizing the vulnerable population is the need of the hour. It also needs to strengthen the partnership with varied private sector in order to scale-up fast. Another important consideration is affordability; with this more number of people will have equitable access to the vaccine.

In the long term, cafeteria approach needs to followed; it would bring more affordable global vaccine alternatives to the market simultaneously increasing the indigenous production. During pandemic, there would be demand for market driven export and market driven prices for foreign vaccines and they may not be available for the public immunization program, which might not just pose ethical challenges but it could also lead to unnecessary doubts as well as questions, regarding the quality of vaccines been administered by the government health system.

Over the last year, there has been unprecedented collaboration between governments, private sector, scientists, vaccine manufacturers, media, healthcare personnel as well as citizens, all of them, have helped reduce both death as well as sickness due to virus. Today, we feel, we are definitely fortunate to have better ideas as to how to the treat the sick patients and also we have quality anti virals, antibiotics which are accessible, effective vaccine to fight against the pandemic. As the second wave of the pandemic unfolds, the one way to cut the chain of transmission is focus on relentless adherence to Covid-appropriate behavior and must have a continued emphasis on testing as well as tracking, alongside vaccination.

This one, is definitely a mammoth vaccination exercise, been rolled out, each citizen's behavior as to how they manage their own health risk as well as exposure would be critical for the communities as well as nation to overcome the above devastating pandemic.