Conceding to the growing ‘for all’ Covid vaccination demand, the Centre on Monday finally gave the green signal and from May 1, all 18+ citizens of India will be eligible for the doses. The decision instantly brought a sigh of relief across the country and while there are laudations, the undercurrents of discontent have also oozed out with the lament why it came so late. The alert and informed citizenry are somehow firm in their conviction that the prevailing situation which is no less than a national health emergency could have been avoided if the false perception that the pandemic has lost its edge, didn’t gain ground. If the policy of exporting vaccines and giving them even as grants to certain countries was not pursued and if from the onset of the vaccination drive the ‘for all’ methodology was applied, it will be difficult to challenge the assertion that things would have been much better. A major fault line in the critical policy making process in the country has been doing things not at appropriate times and then deriving satisfaction from the age-old dictum- ‘better late than never’. This time too there’s no exception.

Meanwhile, the nation had read a sordid chapter by now in which former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh had to face a bout of vitriolic backlash that followed the suggestions he shared with the government solely on the belief that it might aid in tackling the current crisis. It’s an unprecedented instance in India’s history as a free and democratic nation where exchange of ideas has been the norm for so long, but it’s true and painful. Coming back to the national pain now which is undoubtedly shortage of vaccines, any narrative, however veiled, can’t conceal the hard fact that unless production is increased manifold, the all-adult vaccination proposition will face serious difficulties. Although there are reasons to commend the decision of allowing 50% of production output to states and for lifting the embargo for open market sale, the actualities are not too encouraging. To tell exactly what it is, domestic production capacities are still inadequate to meet the new need that has been created after the all-above-18 vaccination decision and with global demand for vaccines already on a high implying an ‘all-booked’ like scenario, it’s still unsure how things will unfold. A fear that there will be rampant hoarding leading to sky-rocketing of prices is gradually gaining hold among common people as well as the pharma industry circles.

A major challenge thus waits both for the Centre as well as states. It must be made sure that joy over the prospect of getting vaccinated is not spoiled by mismanagement.