India is now widening its vaccination program because of a surge of covid-19, and capital is going to impose lockdown. As per the reports, from May 1, adults over 18 will be vaccinated to fight against covid-19, said the government on Monday.
However, vaccines are provided in various states, but nobody knows where the additional shots will come from. Last week, the government said, they only had 27 million shots or enough vaccines for nine days at current rates of vaccination.
Currently, India is vaccinating health workers, people over 45, front-line workers, but various states, including Maharashtra the worst affected state have allegedly insufficient supply. Ongoing inoculation programme for frontline workers, healthcare workers, and those who are above 45 will continue. All inoculation will be part of the National Vaccination Programme and be followed by all protocols.
However, according to the reports, several people have turned away from vaccination centres.
How did India fail to stop a deadly second wave?
Suppliers of vaccines such as the Serum Institute of India are not able to meet international needs and have also warned of raw material impacting production.
Serum Institute of India is likely to supply 100 million doses of Covishield each month from May, but they said, they wouldn’t be able to supply before July. On the other hand, Bharat Biotech is another manufacturer of Covaxin, and its current capacity is approximately 20 crore doses annually, and now it is producing around 1 crore doses per month. Recently, it has said that it will take two to three months to begin supply at its Bengaluru facility. It will take its entire supply of Covaxin capacity to 70 crore doses annually, or approximately 6 crore doses per month.
The government is demanding more supply of vaccines, so manufacturers have to scale up the production of doses up to 50% to states and in the open market.
After the approval of Sputnik V vaccine, will begin production by May even though it is not clear how many shots will be provided to Indians.
How will vaccines be accelerated?
The process has been managed by the Federal Government, however, the government is making changes in the rules, and a move it says will maximize production, availability and attract more foreign and domestic players.
Now manufacturers of the vaccines will provide 50% of the doses to the central government and the remaining to state government and the open market at a pre-defined cost. Three vaccines were already approved in India for use, and two were manufactured by Indian companies Bharat Biotech and Serum Institute, and third Russia’s Sputnik V. Since then, according to the reports, the vaccines can be used in India that are approved in other countries.
The government grants $600m for Bharat Biotech and Serum Institute.
How critical is the situation in India?
According to the reports, around 200,000 daily cases since 15 April are recorded. Due to daily corona-affected cases, the situation in India is getting worse day by day. Corona affected death cases also rising. On Monday, there were 1,619 deaths from the virus.
From Monday, the capital Delhi announced a six-day lockdown with city hospitals are running out of beds, oxygen, and medicines. Over the weekend, Chief Minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal tweeted that lack of oxygen is becoming an emergency in Delhi.
Various cities are complaining about the same problem. This is encouraging officials to use the country’s vast rail network to transport oxygen in special trains around the country. There are various states that have diverted industrial oxygen to use for medicinal purposes.
Free Vaccine in Assam for all adults over 18
With the increasing corona cases in India, various states, including Maharashtra, Delhi, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, and Kerala to impose state-wide curfews and lockdown to prevent spreading Coronavirus. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray announced a state-wide complete lockdown in Maharashtra. At the same time, PM Narendra Modi on Tuesday evening gave a hint of possibilities of lockdown in the country.
Apart from this, the Assam government has announced free Coronavirus vaccination for all adults above 18, and this vaccination drive is going to start on May 1.
