Nearly There Now

Cent percent of eligible group for vaccination is within reach for India now as over 97% have been vaccinated. This has brought economic, educational and even social activities back to normal. This has not been easy ride for sure. India has braved 3rd wave very effectively and is almost back to normalcy. Beginning of the vaccination process was not a nice sight when only 450-550 million doses seemed doable, as late as Nov 2020. There were huge concerns of difficulties in geographical mobility and lack of cold storage facilities. With multiple other factors acting towards vaccine wastage, India had a mountain to move.

Hence, since the beginning of world’s largest vaccination drive, India has battled both vaccine hesitancy and vaccine shortage to reach current vaccine demand across the nation and abroad. A lot has happened since the first vaccine dose was administered on January 16, 2021. On February 19 2021, within just a month of its start, India had already achieved the 1 crore vaccination milestone.One of the key challenges in the success of the vaccination drive also involved the need for a robust registration and tracking mechanism for the beneficiaries. In March 2021, India began vaccination registration through CoWin portal, Arogya Setu and Umang App.

The Co-WIN platform was at the heart of the vaccination drive. In a country like India, where access to technology and digital literacy is limited, introducing a digital platform like CoWIN was a challenge. The software performed the crucial functions of registration of beneficiaries, the listing of facilities/planning unit and session sites, planning and scheduling of vaccine sessions with real-time status on booked and available booking slots on different dates and at different sites, end-to-end implementation of vaccine process, traceability of beneficiaries and monitoring of vaccine doses and wastages, etc. at national, state, district and block levels. Fast forward to October 21, 2021, the country had already hit its Vaccine Century with the administration of 100 crore vaccine doses. The same month, India also launched ICMR’s “i-Drone” (Drone Response and Outreach in North East) policy. For the first time, a “Make in India’ drone was used in South Asia to transport COVID vaccine over an aerial distance of 15 kms in 12-15 mins from the Bishnupur district hospital to Loktak lake. With this India had mounted over the challenge of vaccine delivery to far-flung areas, ensuring that none was left behind. To ensure that the vaccine reached every household, the Government had launched “Har Ghar Dastak” (door-to-door) vaccination campaign on November 3, 2021, to achieve 100 per cent first dose coverage.
India’s fight against COVID19 opened gates for an ecosystem that supported indigenous manufacturing and innovation. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation co-chair Bill Gates lauded India’s work on design, manufacturing and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines that helped save a massive number of lives. He also called it “a testament to innovation.” And why not, from CoWin platform, affordable COVID testing kits to innovative PPE kits for doctors, the country has developed devices that ensure innovations meet necessities.

Indeed, India has leapt into the front-row seat in the post-Covid world order due to its large scale implementation capabilities demonstrated in handling the pandemic while considering the welfare of all at home with Sabka Saath and abroad with Vaccine Maitri.

Indian Healthcare Sector – Coming of Age amidst Pandemic

It is indeed remarkable that India has achieved both the highest number of vaccinations as well as highest percentage of population being vaccinated . This is an unparalleled large-scale implementation in handling the pandemic while considering welfare of all at home with ‘Sabka Saath’ and abroad with Vaccine Maitri. Right communication regarding vaccines at the grassroots level was pivotal. For this, a five-point strategic action framework was utilized to draw up the guidelines – Advocacy; Capacity Building; Media Engagement and social media; Social Mobilization and Community Engagement; and Crisis Communication using AEFI (Adverse Events Following Immunization).

One of the key aspects that haven’t gotten enough attention is the vaccination teams’ compassionate attitude and approach during the vaccination drive. All were trained to engage and show empathy to beneficiaries seeking information or sharing their concerns irrespective of their socio-economic or demographic status. The first and foremost preparatory step that was imperative prior to the launch of the vaccination drive was to train and build the capacity of skilled resource personnel. The success of the vaccination initiative was highly dependent upon the quality of training being provided.

Following the successful development of two vaccines – the indigenously developed COVAXIN and AstraZeneca’s COVISHIELD through technology transfer – India embarked on a new herculean task of vaccine distribution to every nook and corner of the country. Government formulated the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration (NEGVAC) for COVID-19. NEGVAC facilitated the high level of coordination required at the national, state, and district levels to establish effective levels of coordination among key departments. The Co-WIN platform was at the heart of the vaccination drive. The software performed the crucial functions of registration, real-time status on booked and available booking slots on different dates and at different sites, end-to-end implementation of vaccine process, etc. at national, state, district and block levels. In the global battle against COVID- 19, various low-cost innovative technologies developed and scaled up by start-ups from all over the country played a critical role. E-Sanjeevani, the largest telemedicine service, made its efforts towards successful communication. State-level monitors undertook the continuous supervision of vaccine arrival and distribution cycle and ensured quality orientation in vaccine receipt and distribution.

Right information has changed the minds of those who were skeptical about inoculation, and turned the Indian vaccination journey from resistance to acceptance.

Despair to Hope and Confidence within a Year

Celebrating 1 year of the national vaccination drive, Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated today that India’s approach to fighting the pandemic will always remain science-based. This was evident from the very beginning, as last year Emergency Use Authorisation was granted to two “Made in India” vaccines namely, Oxford-AstraZeneca’s Covishield and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin. Then Nationwide rollout of Vaccination began for doctors, healthcare workers, frontline workers including Safai Karamcharis which later on got extended to all adults in stages and even to the adolescent population this year. To ensure gender parity in the Nationwide vaccination drive, the government has made concentrated efforts due to which a total of 49% Females and 51% males have received vaccine doses till date.

As we take stock of the last one year, India is leading the world with its fastest vaccination pace. It has not been an easy journey – the sudden nature of the pandemic, the need for tough and far-reaching decisions amidst a lot of conflicting, incomplete and even wrong information were clearly baffling all across the globe. Further, huge population and consequent shortage of supply at the initial stage together with the need for Government procurement and large scale deployment, including the issue of vaccine hesitancy came as added problems.

PM Modi led from the front in tackling these challenges, especially in engagements for clear communication to create awareness about vaccine safety and building trust. His images from the AIIMS vaccination site, perhaps, boosted the confidence of citizens to go and get vaccinated.

The success of crossing over 155 crores administered doses within a year is a testament to the large scale project deployment capabilities of “New India”. Clear communication from leaders and experts has played a pivotal role in achieving this staggering level of vaccination, esp. in combating fake news and bringing down vaccine hesitancy. To know its importance one can look at the USA where governments had to announce lotteries, scholarships, saving bonds and even cash payouts to encourage people to shed fear and resistance to vaccines.

This success is not only about producing, procuring, distributing and administering vaccines. The needed healthcare infrastructure spending was a big ask. This coupled with extending the availability of food to a large percentage of the population, making provisions to support businesses to get back to production and operations as soon as possible are testaments of a country ready for large scale deployments. There is a lot to be done towards the economic recovery of MSMEs, the rural economy and the poor in the cities – the ones very badly affected by the pandemic and its handling in the form of lockdowns. India is ready and on track to overcome these challenges and make the 2020s a Decisive Decade of Growth.