- The statistics being shared by the Union Health Ministry mandarins amply demonstrate how effective the vaccination drive has been in restricting the severity of the Omicron variant from gaining destructive abilities. How the Delta variant played havoc with the country’s wellbeing, both in terms of economy and individual health, was on full display during April-May last year. It would not be an exaggeration to state a mere reminiscing of what happened last year is bound to send a shiver down our spines. Such was the devastating effects of the Delta variant. Thankfully, the vaccination drive picking up pace since then has provided much-needed relief to all stakeholders allowing us to carry on with our routines largely unhindered.
PC: Jason Lewton
- We all know that Covishield and Covaxin have been the two prominently used vaccines inoculating the eligible category of people. Especially, Covishield which has been the bulwark of our vaccination drive so far. Few more vaccine candidates are having received emergency use authorization as well. One of them is pharma major Zydus Cadila’s ZyCoV-D which has started supplying its corona jab to the government finally. The three-dose Plasmid DNA vaccine, which is injected via a needle-free system, was approved for emergency use in the 12-and-above age group nearly six months ago. However, the company has admitted that teething issues had delayed the delivery of the vaccine.
- Remember, it was November last year that the company had received an order for 10 million doses of the vaccine from the Centre. Now that it is available, the government plans to use the new vaccine in poorly vaccinated areas such as in the northeastern states. Nonetheless, the Zydus vaccine’s availability should also expand vaccination among children in the 12-and-above category without any further delay. Currently, only children aged 15-17 years are being vaccinated with the Covaxin jab. And given that children have suffered immensely due to repeated school closures, setting back their learning outcomes, the vaccination for this group needs to be expedited.
PC: Strath
- Further, no harm in moving on with mix-and-match vaccine studies too since two more vaccines are in the pipeline viz. Covovax and Corbevax would only aid in trying out such heterogeneous vaccination to expand the booster program. As you are aware, the booster program currently covers only frontline workers, health workers, and those above 60 with comorbidities having completed nine months since their second dose. Notably, the vaccine is administered as the booster is the same one as the primary dose. Mixing vaccines could speed up the booster rollout and ease the pressure on Covishield and Covaxin.
- Mind you, mix-and-match vaccination is already being done abroad and there is no reason why India continues to exercise undue caution to proceed further. Remember, the number of people with comorbidities below 60 years of age is quite large, and keeping them outside the booster net makes them vulnerable to new Covid variants which could be more infectious than the Omicron. We need not be caught napping on this front either. Vaccination is a key tool to end the Covid pandemic. Therefore, with newer vaccines coming up, both children’s vaccination and the booster program for adults should be scaled up immediately duly considering the above.
