Theme:
- India and the other world countries are fighting COVID-19 since early 2020. At present, India is facing the second wave of COVID-19 since February 2021. All the countries including are vaccinating their people against Covid.
The situation of COVID vaccination in India:
- In November 2020, the Indian government launched ‘Mission COVID Suraksha‘ with Rs. 35,000 crores to accelerate the development of affordable vaccines in India.
- The vaccination program started in India on 16th January 2021. At present, Covaxin and Covishield vaccines are being given. At first, frontline workers – healthcare professionals, sanitation workers and municipal workers were given the vaccine. After that people aged 60 and above were vaccinated. Now, people aged 45 and above are being vaccinated. As of 16th April 2021, only 7% of the Indian population are vaccinated.
- Initially, many people hesitated to take the vaccine but now people are standing in queues to take it.
- Through the World Health Organization’s ‘COVAX initiative‘ for equitable access to vaccines, India sent vaccine doses to 64 countries. Mainly low-income countries got benefitted due to India’s vaccine doses.
- As India is facing the second wave of COVID-19 since February 2021, India blocked vaccine exports and gave preference to vaccinate its own population. As there is a vaccine shortage at present, India started imported Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine to speed up the vaccination drive.
Way forward:
- At present, India is facing the second wave of Covid-19. So, vaccination drive should be at a faster pace to vaccinate all as soon as possible. When a good percentage of people are vaccinated, it results in herd immunity, which provides indirect protection to those who are not vaccinated.
- To prevent the wastage of vaccine doses, cold chain transport infrastructure needs to be improved.
- Genetic profiling should be conducted on some people with their consent to check how they are reacting to the treatment and vaccine to bring more effective treatment methods.
- Vaccine passport is being implemented in Israel, and being tested in Europe. In future, it may become a must, and it will be helpful to make sure all are vaccinated. The availability of vaccines should be improved.
- Even after taking the vaccine, there are chances of contracting the infection, but the severity of the infection will be very less. So, more awareness programs should be conducted about following protocols even after taking the vaccine.
- Production of vaccines should be increased.
Conclusion:
Vaccination drive should be at a faster pace. Production of vaccines should be increased to vaccinate all as soon as possible. Along with vaccination, rules on wearing masks and maintaining social distancing need to be implemented strictly.
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