No foresight, No jabs
The devastating second wave of COVID-19 has exposed the total lack of preparation on part of the government, more so by the Union government and to varying extents by State governments. The Union government has mainly failed in vaccinating a large number of people due to its tardy decision making, despite being aware that the only solution to fight COVID-19 currently is large scale vaccination, something that’s been accepted worldwide.
Like various other factors related to COVID-19, the powers for vaccine procurement, too, were concentrated with the Centre. It has launched a phased vaccination programme since mid-January with the youngest group (18-45) added since May 1. As the number of patients and deaths and their gory stories of non-availability of beds, medicines, medical oxygen (causing deaths in many cases) across the country started coming out, people’s willingness and rush to get vaccinated grew since the beginning of April. To that was added the second age group of 45-60, followed by 18-45. But, the total lack of vision and decision making of the centre, leading to failure in procuring the required number of vaccine vials for such a huge population, has led to a miserable situation of non-availability of vaccines.
As a result, when 60 crore doses were required to cover the priority categories as announced by the government, only 25 per cent were administered by April 30. Vaccination of the 18-45 group has not started with the speed it is required to be done as the adequate quantity of vaccine is not available and the priority is to give the second dose within 70 days to 9.94 crore people who have taken the first dose. This has resulted in long queues and crowds at vaccination centres and people waiting since very early morning just to obtain a token number.
A glaring revelation for India is that countries like the USA, UK and several in Europe, despite having much less population, have already placed the order for vaccines from May to November 2020 itself after reviewing the possible success in vaccine development of different companies. As of August 2020 itself the United States paid $11 billion to eight companies to develop vaccines. Some companies were assured that a specific number of their vials will be purchased by the government, with some even paid in advance. As AstraZeneca worked with Oxford to develop a vaccine, it had entered into an agreement with the Serum Institute of India (SII), Pune in May 2020 for the production of 100 crore vials in a year, once the vaccine was developed by Oxford.
When all vaccine manufacturers are, presently, busy fulfilling their commitments made from August to November last year to different countries, the Indian government suddenly woke up to demand for vaccines in January. Without bothering to fully vaccinate Indian citizens, it thought wise to first export vaccines to other countries. In the resultant chaos, it nonchalantly handed over vaccine procurement to states also. States like Maharashtra urgently require the vaccine and are willing to spend (Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray expressed willingness to buy 12 crore doses in one go for 6 crore people in the 18-44 age group) but the vaccines are not available. Vaccine import proposals of states like Maharashtra were pending with the centre for a long time despite the emergency situation. This is an utter failure in foreseeing the situation and taking remedial steps.
Russia’s Sputnik vaccine has landed in India and its local production has commenced. Also, more vials are being churned out by SII and Bharat Biotech. In addition, vaccine technologies are being transferred to other companies to increase the production quantity and reduce the delivery time frame of the same. Still, large scale vaccination appears to be a distant target. The loss of precious time due to delayed decisions could have been avoided, mitigating the people’s sufferings to some extent.