How will India Vaccinate a billion people?

Article by Ananya Nayar, Website edited by Misaki Tomiyama

Will schools in Delhi be opening?

The Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia answered questions related to whether schools in Delhi will be opening. Since March, all schools have been closed and moved virtually, Delhi is resisting their third and most serious infection wave. Sisodia announces that “no parent would want to send their children to school until they are assured it is safe.” He went on to say that “We keep getting feedback from parents... They are concerned whether it is safe… it is not.”

The capital has a total of 534,000 cases, however, the Government is slowly opening up new facilities.

The latest guidelines stated that schools outside containment zones are allowed to open for students in Class 9-12, it is optional, and students who prefer staying home will do school online with their classmates in the classroom. This

decision was left to state governments and this provision has been applied in Delhi.

Mr Manish Sisodia also commented on Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan’s statement from last week’s issue saying that India will have a vaccine within 3 or 4 months. Sisodia clapped back, saying “not give political statements, take action (over ICU hospital beds to be supplied by the central government.) It has been 10 days you promised ICU beds and we have only received 200. He should fulfil the commitment.”

How does India plan to vaccinate a billion people?

Since March, there have been more than 9.3 million covid cases in India, and a population of 1.3 billion. When a secure vaccine is formulated countries all over the world will receive it and every single one in the population will be vaccinated to crush the curve and stop the spread of coronavirus cases. The mass vaccination will be a challenge since India is one of the most populated countries in the world, developing and struck by poverty, this may be a challenge since all citizens may not all have access or knowledge of the vaccine. Therefore, it will take time to make sure more than a billion people have had immunization. Experts say vaccinating so many people will be a “daunting and unprecedented” experience and “may not be able to be completed until December 2021.”

India plans to vaccinate the most vulnerable first, and they set the goal to immunise at least 250 million people and receive 500 million vaccines by July 2021.

India has a strong immunisation programme, home to many large-scale manufacturers and the country has provided the world with almost 60% of vaccines in the past. Large numbers of people are inoculated every year, and the health programme targets almost 60 million people requiring vaccines.

India plans to spread the virus with their “cold chain” stores that can potentially provide vaccines to more than 8 million locations around the country. There are 27,000 of these provisional medical stores all over.

India is also looking at making the whole process clean, fast and healthy. The vaccine syringes will be one-time use only, and the biggest syringe manufacturer in India- ‘Hindustan Syringes’ plans on making up to a billion syringes by 2021 to suit the high demand. However, the government hasn’t addressed talk about the mass consumption of glass vials and syringes and many are questioning whether this is safe for the environment.