12th Nov 2020 10:11:PM Editorials
Eastern Sentinel Arunachal News

With winter approaching fast in India thereby escalating the fear of a new Covid wave, desire for the vaccine’s early arrival has intensified proportionally. While there has been a series of ups and downs in the strenuous process of making of the ‘saviour’ that has kept the entire world and the second-most troubled country in tenterhooks, the last few days have raised the hope that its arrival is very much on the horizon, if not immediately. The most vital aspect which is efficacy is now being declared to be in the zones of above 90% by two major drug makers, one from the US and the other from Russia. But another major news that came on Thursday was the announcement made by Serum Institute of India, that it had already made 40 million doses of AstraZeneca’s version and would soon start making the Novavax version. It’s  often said that under a suitable competitive environment, society is the ultimate gainer and if it comes true in the vaccine’s case, nothing can be more elating.
From the information that is now available in public domain, it appears that most of the editions currently in the making are in the final stage of trials and after it there will be the need to have the customary regulatory approvals for commencing commercial production. US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer shared the good news first that their vaccine is proving to be 90% effective based on trials it carried over 43,500 participants. Meanwhile, the Russian version named Sputnik V has claimed even more efficacy with 92% and in this case the sample size has been 16,000. Irrespective of these technicalities, the question that becomes prominent is how much of these ‘healthy signs’ are going to have a direct positive bearing on the Indian scenario. While Serum Institute, as on Thursday has not elaborated whether the 40 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine are exclusively for India or are meant for global supply, those who have been tracking the vaccine’s journey’s must be aware that it’s storage and logistics that are going to be issues in India. The situation, as viewed by various health experts might evolve in a way that there are multiple editions of vaccines, but are of little use just due to the drawbacks plaguing the above factors. India will be having very little time left to mend these and it will be challenging particularly in Arunachal Pradesh and the NE.
Even if manpower problem is sorted out relying on the strength of the Universal Immunisation Programme, logistics and storage will be the grey areas and the State’s health department must liaise with the Central counterpart immediately to avoid a last-minute chaos. 

 


Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

<< Back to News List