Even if it will sound like premature optimism, for the first time in more than 40 days there are signs that 2^nd Covid wave in India might be receding. During the last 24 hours preceding Tuesday morning there were 1,96,427 new cases, the first time since April 14 for the daily caseload to fall below 2 lakh mark. While all these are but ephemeral and variable glimmers of hope given the unpredictable nature of the now-dominant B.1.617.2 variant of coronavirus and fingers have to be kept crosses at least for the next 10 days, the distressing ‘constant’ remains as it is- extreme vaccine paucity.

The Centre in a new notification on Monday has ‘relaxed’ vaccination norms for the 18-44 age group. The changes propose that beneficiaries (as per the notification’s exact words it’s “a few beneficiaries”) will now be allowed for on-site or walk-in only at government-run vaccination centres for minimising wastage and states will take the decision based on “local context”. Now, at a time when vaccine shortage is ubiquitous and overwhelming, how is it expected that beneficiaries will be in a position to identify the specific centres having unused doses at the end of the day/session? The policy of only online registration through CoWin portal/health apps for this age group was based on the assumption that the entire nation has been adequately digitised. This has been highly impractical and the ‘tweak’ has exposed it and how far the objective of minimising wastage will be achieved also remains unclear. But, that the serpentine queues will lengthen and there remains a high chance of added confusion is a certainty. There should not be an iota of doubt that unless the 18-44 age group, the largest demographic block in the Indian population and also socio-economically the most active one is adequately vaccinated, lifting of lockdowns or containment measures and recommencing of the now-curtailed economic activities will be almost impossible. A considerable hope was generated after the states were given liberty to procure vaccines directly from manufacturers with words ‘global tender’ becoming the buzzword. However, as per reports, states after states are facing refusals, with some manufacturers saying clear-cut they will only deal with GoI and some expressing inability to supply since they are already contractually bound to deliver vaccines to countries who have already ordered, a process which started as early as August 2020. What India did? It started 5 months later in January 2021 and that too with meagre order quantities.

The Centre must acknowledge the states’ worries and procure vaccines directly from makers and then disburse. Alarm bell for the 3^rd wave has already been sounded and a further delay on an issue as simple as who should procure vaccines may quicken the arrival. 

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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

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