India’s Covid vaccination, lockdown saved over 34 lakh lives: Stanford varsity report

During the address, Mandaviya said India undertook the world’s biggest vaccination drive, with 97% coverage of the first dose and 90% of the second dose, administering over 2.2 billion doses to those above 12 years.

“The drive focused on equitable coverage for all, hence vaccines were provided free to all citizens. Campaigns and digital tools such as ‘Har Ghar Dastak’, mobile vaccination teams as well as the inception of Co-Win vaccine management platform were leveraged to ensure last-mile delivery,” he said, adding that the success depended on allaying fears and managing misinformation.

The report said the vaccination prevented a total loss of $18.3 billion, with the net benefit standing at $15.4 billion after accounting for the cost of the vaccination drive. The report reflected that the benefits of vaccination exceeded its cost and suggested that vaccination be considered a macroeconomic stabilising indicator contrary to just a health intervention.

The report also stated that the development and manufacturing of the vaccines in the country allowed the government to inoculate a large number of people and also decrease the burden on healthcare systems.

The report said that timely lockdown helped prevent 100,000 to 2 million deaths that would have happened without it. The lockdown, it says, was able to push the peak of infections in the country to September 2020, buying necessary time to revamp health infrastructure.

Giving example of Kerala, the report said measures like contact tracing, mass testing, home quarantine, distribution of essential medical equipment, revamping healthcare infrastructure, and constant coordination among stakeholders at the Centre, state and district levels helped in managing the pandemic. “Given the regional disparities in the country, it is necessary to look into sub-national-level mitigation strategies to provide an overview of the growth rate of the epidemic during different phases of the mitigation strategies deployed by states for sound decision-making,” the report said.

Initiatives of the government such as the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana have been highlighted by the report as measures to ensure food safety.