The figures are telling the same. Two months back India was launched vaccination drive in grand manner but it was failed on realty. Second populous nation after China is struggling to face second wave of pandemic virus in the country.
India has administrated Covid-19 vaccine doses to 5.06 crore people till March 24th. This represents only 3.7% of India’s 135.5 crore population. Full vaccination which is inclusive of two doses has been given to merely 0.7% of the total population. If the vaccination continued with similar speed India will take 10 years to administer two doses to 70% of the population to give herd immunity.
There are many reasons for slow vaccination in the country. Lack of initiative and interest showed by the people is the primary reason. The time interval between two doses of Covishield vaccine has been extended from existing 4 to 6 weeks to 4 to 8 weeks. India’s vaccination kick started just one week back after increasing the cases in the country. Confirmed infections have risen to about 31,600 daily from a low of about 9,800 in February. Causality rate also shot up to 82% within recent two weeks. Maharashtra is once again center of spreading the virus even in second wave. Entire districts of the state have gone back into lockdown.
Scientists are investigating whether a new strain found there is more virulent, like variants found in Britain, South Africa and Brazil. Initially, Indian government kept the availability of the vaccines in private hospital. Now, jabs are giving in private clinics and enormous makeshift vaccination centers, and it is considering making them available in pharmacies, too. There are doubts among the people which vaccine is good for immunity. The government approved a domestically developed vaccine, called Covaxin, before its safety and efficacy trials were even over. Finally, India is slow in vaccination not because of shortage of vaccine but lack proper planning to educate the people.
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