Administering 100 crore vaccine doses in less than 10 months is a remarkable achievement for a country as vast and diverse as ours.
Today, four vaccines are manufactured in India — Bharat biotech’s Covaxin, Serum Institute’s Covishield, Cadila Zydus ZycovD vaccine and Russian-developed Sputnik V.
Means to do so:
It has been made possible by the concerted efforts of scientists, entrepreneurs, industry leaders, administrators and government.
In March 2020, as soon as the pandemic struck the world, India invested huge funds to create an ecosystem that encouraged scientists as well as entrepreneurs to collaborate and take up the challenge of developing vaccines in such a short time.
Major investments were made in high-risk projects, collaboration between academia and industry was proactively encouraged and infrastructure to support vaccine development was bolstered.
Ensuring safety of Vaccines:
By September-October last year, India had set up an expert panel including general physicians, pulmonologists, cardiologists, neurologists, hepatologists and other specialists to monitor Adverse Events Following Immunisation (AEFI) at the national level.
Any clinical event or disease that occurs within 28 days of administering a dose of the vaccine is to be reported as AEFI. Unfortunately, the system is only able to capture events occurring in the first four-five days after the vaccine is administered.
Routine AEFI surveillance, though, has improved and active surveillance systems have been set up at 20 to 25 sites across the country, both at hospitals as well as community sites. This is helping the system to rule out the possibility of long-term effects of the vaccines.
At every vaccination centre, a waiting area was set up where people can be observed for 30 minutes post-vaccination. The objective was to manage any severe reaction promptly and refer them to the nearest health facility.
Means to tackle vaccine hesitancy:
But the country’s experience during the long campaign for polio eradication came in handy while dealing with misinformation around Covid-19 vaccines.
Communication experts were roped in to draft social mobilisation programmes in October last year. Iconic personalities, religious leaders, community leaders were also involved in awareness programmes.
Social media was scanned systematically so that rumours and misinformation could be countered methodically.
India’s vaccination campaign has been a well-coordinated operation involving several departments other than the health departments.
Ensuring Availability of Vaccines:
all-out efforts were made to develop indigenous vaccines and manufacture locally under an international licence.
attempts were also made to arrive at advance arrangements with international vaccine manufacturers in late 2020.
Way Forward:
But the fact is that there is still a long road to effectively control Covid. A substantial number of adults, and all children, are yet to be vaccinated.
The last mile could be a difficult road as we may come across pockets of vaccine hesitancy but concerted efforts to address contextual factors will help the country achieve full immunisation.
