As per the union health ministry reports, almost 4.5 million beneficiaries have received the covid-19 vaccination in India after its inoculation drive started back on the 16th of January. As India moves forward to vaccinating its priority group members, the world sees hope in getting the vaccine supplied from India at a minimal cost. India has already supplied the vaccine to almost 15 countries and around 25 more countries are in line to receive the vaccine from us.
India leading the world map on the vaccination procedure
The Indian Govt has given nod to two vaccines- one Bharat biotech’s own vaccine, Covaxin, and another Oxford vaccine, Covishield that is being manufactured in the Serum Institute of India, Pune. After the successful vaccination drive in India, the major countries of the world have their dependency on India as the primary source of vaccine supplier. By far India has supplied vaccines to 15 major countries and now there are almost 25 more countries that are in the queue for the vaccines. S Jaishankar, the minister of external affairs, in a press conference, said, “I think right now we have already supplied to about 15 countries (as per my recollection). I would say there would be another about 25 countries which are at different stages in the pipeline. But what it has done is today it has put India on the map of the world”
Three types of vaccine takers
There are three types of vaccine takers from India. The first ones are poor countries that get the vaccine on a grant basis from India. The second groups of countries are the ones who are price-sensitive and get the vaccines at the same rate that the Indian Govt pays to the vaccine makers. And the third groups of countries are the ones who do not buy vaccines via the Indian govt, they make their own deals with the vaccine producers and buy the vaccine from them through direct dealing.
PM’s “pharmacy of the world” vision seems to be successful
Our PM Narendra Modi Ji had visions about making India the “pharmacy of the world” and by this distribution of the covid-19 vaccine, it seems this vision is going to get fulfilled now. But at the same time, the government must also think of fasting the vaccination procedure here in India. From vaccinating just the priority groups to making the vaccine available to the common people as well, the decision to vaccinate the 1.35 billion population of India is also crucial. And besides producing more vaccines, the quality of it must also be maintained by the vaccine production firms.
The Policy Times policy suggestions
- No wonder India is doing well in terms of the covid-19 vaccine but are we actually stepping towards a corona-free nation? Well, not possible so because the vaccination rate is too slow! It will take another 2-3 years to vaccinate every member of the nation if we go by this rate. The government must look at this fact and vaccinate its own people first before distributing it to the world.
- Even if there is some news doing the rounds that the number of covid cases has come down within a few weeks of the vaccine administration process, there is no data transparency on the part of the government. We do not know the vaccine working status and capabilities and thus, drawing a conclusion is not advisable for now. The government must make the data transparent in every step of the vaccination procedure.
