India gears up for mass vaccination drive amid plethora of challenges

Vaccinating a billion people in India will be a daunting and unprecedented challenge and it will take at least a couple of years to get half of Indians vaccinated. From the cold storage management facilities to cold storage and supply chain facilities to a large number of volunteers needed, mass vaccination drive is going to be a tough challenge.

Hyderabad: The deadly Covid-19, being dubbed as the Millenium Pandemic, has posed a grave challenge to the nations of the World. It has turned topsy-turvy the health and developmental goals of most countries. Having spread across the World within no time, the pandemic drove 18 lakh people into the hug of death. The death knell continues in several countries like the US and UK.

Following its widespread devastation, research went on a war-footing for the preparation of a vaccine. Two or three candidate Covid-19 vaccines have been given a green signal by some countries. Bharat Biotech (Covaxin) and Serum Institute (Covishield) have also applied for immediate permissions to the vaccines they have developed. Following the development, the Union Government conducted a “Dry Run” as part of advance preparations for the universal Covid-19 vaccination.

The objective of the Center’s dry-run is to administer placebo to the beneficiaries from two districts in each of the four States, representing the four regions of the country. It will also help ascertain the preparedness of the official machinery and the lapses in the digital IT site meant to be useful in the operation.

It is literally going to be a Maha Yagya under which the vaccine will be stored in the 86,000 cold storage machines installed at around 29,000 cold chain centres. Measures will have to be taken to ensure that the vaccine reaches the places where it is required at the right time. In a coordinated effort, each beneficiary will have to be informed through SMS as to when his turn will come and where he will be vaccinated. Detecting adverse reactions and noting them to the minutest detail will be fraught with tension-filled moments.

Considering all this, the background preparation for the vaccination taken up by the Center in coordination with 23 ministries is an unprecedented operation.

India has the experience of several decades in conducting mass vaccination drives. In spite of the vast experience gained in the field of vaccination, the country is going to face a tough challenge in Covid-19 vaccination.

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For prioritized vaccination, the government has identified 2 crore and frontline corona warriors. It is estimated that another 28 crore people aged 50 or less are suffering prolonged co-morbidities. Nearly 50,000 personnel have been trained up in 681 districts of the country, where vaccination will be taken up as soon as clearance is accorded to the proposed vaccines.

Though 82 lakh universal vaccination centres are already available, only PHCs or centres with even better facilities have been chosen for Covid vaccination, as a precautionary measure. In ordinary times, it takes years to ascertain the safety and efficacy of a vaccine. However biotech institutions raced against time to speedily develop the vaccine.

The vaccines have been tested on thousands of people in the third stage of testing. One cannot deny adverse reaction among a few when a vaccine is administered on crores of people. Such reactions may not be solely due to the vaccine, says the US agency FDA. Medical assistance of the superior kind should be immediately made available to those that have developed adverse reactions. On the basis of learnings from the long term observation of susceptible persons, improvements should be made to the vaccine.

True battle of life awaits the rank and file of the medical and health sector when the double dose of the vaccine has to be administered across the country. The ranks should be battle-ready, equipped with technical support. The pandemic should be put to an end with a strong resolve.

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