This is an archive article published on July 31, 2020
Within govt, talks on who will get vaccine first
The Centre said it is currently deliberating on two key issues —logistics and to which section of the population the vaccine needs to be administered on priority.
Meanwhile, as the number of Covid-19 recoveries in the country touched a million, the Centre flagged that developing herd immunity in the absence of a vaccine is not an option. (File)
With multiple Covid-19 vaccine candidates across the globe entering phase 3 of human trials, the government on Thursday said it has actively begun engaging with multiple stakeholders on the two crucial aspects related to distribution and administration of a potential vaccine for Covid-19.
The Centre said it is currently deliberating on two key issues —logistics and to which section of the population the vaccine needs to be administered on priority.
At a press briefing, Rajesh Bhushan, Officer on Special Duty, Ministry of Health, on Thursday said, “…Has there been a discussion on prioritising how a vaccine would be distributed and administer, if and when it is available —the answer is, yes; there are multiple stakeholders within government and Ministry of Health has started actively engaging with such stakeholders.”
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Asked which section of the population the vaccine will be administered on priority, he said, “When the vaccine comes, it has to be administered on a much larger scale compared to the existing vaccines. There is near unanimity on this. The questions which are being discussed are the questions of logistics: how it will be procured and stored, and how it will be made available. But there are equally important ethical questions: who gets it first? These questions are still under deliberations in the Union government.”
Meanwhile, as the number of Covid-19 recoveries in the country touched a million, the Centre flagged that developing herd immunity in the absence of a vaccine is not an option. “Herd immunity is kind of indirect protection, but it happens only when the population becomes immune either through vaccination or immunity developed through the previous infection… In 2011, India had a population of 121 crore according to Census data… for a country of this size, if we are talking about developing herd immunity without the vaccine. That is not an option,” Bhushan said.
“It can only be an outcome, that too, at a very high cost. Lakhs of people have to get infected, get admitted to hospitals, collapsing the healthcare infrastructure, and resulting in numerous deaths. Herd immunity can never be a strategic option,” Bhushan said.
Kaunain Sheriff M is an award-winning investigative journalist and the National Health Editor at The Indian Express. He is the author of Johnson & Johnson Files: The Indian Secrets of a Global Giant, an investigation into one of the world’s most powerful pharmaceutical companies.
With over a decade of experience, Kaunain brings deep expertise in three areas of investigative journalism: law, health, and data. He currently leads The Indian Express newsroom’s in-depth coverage of health.
His work has earned some of the most prestigious honours in journalism, including the Ramnath Goenka Award for Excellence in Journalism, the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) Award, and the Mumbai Press Club’s Red Ink Award.
Kaunain has also collaborated on major global investigations. He was part of the Implant Files project with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which exposed malpractices in the medical device industry across the world. He also contributed to an international investigation that uncovered how a Chinese big-data firm was monitoring thousands of prominent Indian individuals and institutions in real time.
Over the years, he has reported on several high-profile criminal trials, including the Hashimpura massacre, the 2G spectrum scam, and the coal block allocation case. Within The Indian Express, he has been honoured three times with the Indian Express Excellence Award for his investigations—on the anti-Sikh riots, the Vyapam exam scam, and the abuse of the National Security Act in Uttar Pradesh. ... Read More
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Meanwhile, as the number of Covid-19 recoveries in the country touched a million, the Centre flagged that developing herd immunity in the absence of a vaccine is not an option. (File)
