Covid-19 vaccination: Can India deliver that shot to all?

To avert vaccine inequality, the Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) facility has been set up by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and its partners to help purchase and distribute proven vaccines.

By: Satata Karmakar | | Updated: December 18, 2020 7:38 pm

Coronavirus: Can India deliver that vaccine shot to all?

India has the world’s largest immunization programme in the world with a beneficiary of more than 60 million annually. According to Salve, India has also demonstrated outreach and decentralized delivery of public services during general elections. “These experiences will help India roll out the Covid-19 vaccination at the mass level. The use of IT is crucial in tracking and implementation individual-level vaccination. However, administration of vaccine should be kept as a voluntary exercise and should not be made mandatory,” Salve stressed. Also Read - Covid-19 variant detected in UK may be ‘more deadly than the older virus strain’

NOTHING CAN BE PREDICTED AT THE MOMENT

However, due to scarce data on the Covid-19 vaccination and its mass-level efficacy globally, nothing can be predicted at this crucial moment. Also Read - ‘Enhanced immunity, no serious adverse events’: Lancet releases Covaxin’s Phase 1 trial data

An analysis by Duke University’s ‘Launch and Scale Speedometer’, which is updated every two weeks, shows India has made deals for 1.6 billion doses of three global vaccine candidates upon them being ready and certified for use. Also Read - South African coronavirus variant may 'escape antibodies, cause reinfection'

Globally, 10.1 billion doses were reserved even before any candidate was approved for market, showed the data.

“Countries with manufacturing capacity, such as India and Brazil, have been successful in negotiating large advance market commitments with leading vaccine candidates as part of the manufacturing agreements,” according to Duke University’s ‘Launch and Scale Speedometer’.

TEMPERATURE AT THE STORAGE LEVEL IS IMPORTANT

Dr. Neha Gupta who is an infectious diseases specialist at Medanta Hospital in Gurugram said that the potency of vaccines depends upon the temperature at the storage level.

“Cold chain needs to be properly maintained. The government needs to keep a designated staff for the mass vaccination of healthcare workers, elderly population and patients with common comorbidities like hypertension, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), diabetes and cardio-cerebrovascular disease,” she told the media.

The stark reality is that many countries including India may opt to use less protective Covid-19 vaccines that are more affordable and available instead of waiting for better, costlier shots.

OXFORD VACCINE COULD POWERFULLY CURB COVID-19’s TOLL

But even the lowest reported efficacy so far, for the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine, could powerfully curb Covid-19’s toll.

“If you’d asked me a year ago if we had the opportunity to deliver billions of doses of a vaccine that had 60 per cent, 70 per cent efficacy, we would have been delighted by that prospect,” said Richard Hatchett, who heads the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, in an article in the prestigious journal Science this week.

The Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest producer of vaccines, could boost supplies globally.

“It has signed contracts with the US biotech Novavax to make roughly 1 billion doses of its candidate, which is just about to start a large efficacy trial. And it will supply COVAX with up to 200 million doses of the AstraZeneca-Oxford and Novavax vaccines for low- and middle-income countries,” according to the article.

COVAX HAS BEEN SET UP TO AVERT VACCINE INEQUALITY

To avert vaccine inequality, the Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) facility has been set up by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and its partners to help purchase and distribute proven vaccines.

But COVAX is strapped for cash and its impact remains to be seen.

“If in the first six months, Western Europe and the United States are the only regions that are vaccinating people, and other parts of the world are not being vaccinated until the end of 2021, then I think we’re going to have a very, very tense global situation,” infectious disease researcher Jeremy Farrar, who heads the Wellcome Trust research charity, was quoted as saying.

INDIA HAS ALREADY ENTERED A CRITICAL STAGE BUT WHERE ARE THE VACCINES?

The truth is that current estimates depend on vaccine production running smoothly, and already, Sanofi Pasteur and Novavax have run into manufacturing delays.

“Many factors can trip up a vaccine maker, including shortages of raw materials, equipment, or glass vials. In 2009, the pandemic flu vaccine was delayed because the influenza virus poorly replicated in eggs”.

India has entered a critical stage and an absence of a vaccine for long will only create confusion and further deter millions from taking that elusive shot.

(With inputs from IANS)

Published : December 18, 2020 7:35 pm | Updated:December 18, 2020 7:38 pm

Read Disclaimer