Being Ready for Covid 19

Context:

The number of active COVID-19 cases and test positivity rates in India has declined sharply. The third wave of Pandemic showed the efficacy of vaccine as a life saver.

Relevance:

GS-II: Government Policies & Interventions, Health

Dimensions of the Article:

1. COVID-19 pandemic
2. What made all the difference?
3. Shortage of supply and demand
4. Way Forward

COVID-19 pandemic:

• India was reporting around 1,70,000 cases a day, just a month ago.
• The latest figures shows that the number of cases per day dropped to around 6,000.
• India is now contributing to only 0.7% of global cases
• Last year this time, cases in India was around 5,000 a day and many claimed that the pandemic is over. However, the delta variant created a catastrophe.
• Current figures:
  • Over 75% of those over 15 years are now fully vaccinated in India.
  • A small and growing number of those over 60 have had the third dose.

What made all the difference?

• Vaccination and the extent of it coverage  was a crucial distinction between then and now
• A recent report suggests that over 90% of Indians have been exposed to the virus over the last two years and, therefore, combined with the vaccination, are sufficiently protected against disease — but not infection — for many more months ahead.
• Significance of Vaccine:
• Avoiding vaccination, especially the elderly, makes them vulnerable to serious infection.
  • The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), said that 92% of those who died of COVID-19 since January this year were unvaccinated.
    • The wide vaccination coverage had played an important role in protecting hundreds of lives
• Vaccine hesitancy:
• India is fortunate in that it does not have to battle vaccine hesitancy in a large measure.
  • When the vaccination drive began in India, there were scepticism regarding the vaccines not having passed the typical stages of vaccine approval saw a certain degree of hesitation.
  • But soon, the main problem was an insufficient number of vaccines.

Shortage of supply and demand:

• India has administered nearly 178 crore vaccine doses till date.
• Several indigenously developed vaccines that have been approved in emergency mode by authorities, however, there are still serious questions on supply.
• Currently, the demand for vaccine is low and many vaccination centres are administering second doses.
• The demand for Vaccine can spike up when there are signs for fourth wave of COVID-19 pandemic.
• The demand will be to vaccinate children, particularly those below 15, as well as booster doses for adults.
• The manufacture of Covaxin was unable to ramp up vaccinations in time during the crisis months. This is a caution to biotechnology companies that having vaccines is very different from being ready with a seamless supply chain.
• The Indian government has still not made public a timeline for when vaccines from Biological E, Gennova and Zydus Cadila will be practically available for mass use.

Way Forward:

Currently, India is surrounded by a number of crisis across the globe. However, this must not let down its efforts towards COVID-19 and it should insist on companies being ready with a measurable timeline.

-Source: The Hindu