Avoid uneven distribution

The Centre must oversee the new drive to avoid any vaccine nationalism within India

On Wednesday, India opened up the coronavirus vaccination registry to allow any adult to sign up for doses from May 1. Removing the age bar that made only those above 45 eligible is expected to lead to a surge in uptake. On April 1, this newspaper reported that it would take India till mid-June to fully inoculate 100 million people if it is able to reach four million vaccinations a day. But that number is still less than a tenth of the country’s population and the pace of vaccinations has, instead of growing, fallen. Officials have attributed this to shortages as well as the sharp resurgence in cases.

Recent comments from ministers and officials suggest several states are yet to open discussions with vaccine-makers for doses or have not been able to secure early supply commitments. Of 16 states where HT reporters reached out to officials for details on direct vaccine supplies, only three — Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Assam — said they expected at least some of the doses to arrive by the first week of next month. Without these doses, most states are unlikely to have enough to give doses to the under-45 population while still maintaining adequate stock for people who are scheduled for their second doses as well as those in the older age group. Anecdotal accounts suggest that the second wave and its devastating impact has minimised the vaccine hesitancy seen in the initial months of the drive. A strong demand, particularly among the working population, could make states run out of doses sooner than they account for at present.

Such a scenario has led to public fights in other parts of the world, where the repeated return of the virus led to a clamour for more doses. These examples serve as a warning for India. The Centre’s decision to step away from a part of the process entirely without handholding states during the initial roll-out could lead to uneven distribution, although it has promised to come up with an arrangement to distribute its share in a manner that takes into account population and caseloads. Whether this process is free of the forces of politics or not will be crucial. The Union government may need to do more to help with the transition, including perhaps by creating a yardstick that vaccines-makers can use to prioritise shipments instead of a mere first-come, first-served arrangement. It is important vaccine nationalism does not arise within India.