- Entire countrymen would wish to forget the year gone-by in a jiffy. The year 2020 will be etched in our memories as not only an extraordinarily dreadful viewed from different angles but also would serve us with a timely reminder as to how fragile the human ecosystem remains whilst handling situations none of us are quite exposed to. The pandemic will count amongst one such incident whose debilitating effects cannot be erased over time. The scar caused by the damaging virus will linger for long perfunctorily forcing us to reflect on why Mother Nature cannot be taken for granted.
PC: businesstoday
- Modernity at the cost of altering the harmonious living as espoused by nature since times immemorial is a big no. Hard lessons learned, the entire universe focused its energies, time, and resources on inventing an effective vaccination much against the run of time. Under normal circumstances, vaccine invention would usually take five to ten years owing to varying degrees of extensive trials. Showing tremendous resilience on the back of the amazing work ethos of the scientists and experts, a few of the vaccine candidates to fight the menace of novel coronavirus has already made a presence in few countries that have initiated inoculation drives as well.
- India, long considered as the pharmaceutical capital of the world, too has embarked on the often-uncharted territory in developing indigenous vaccines to present veritable tool against the fight to curb the menace from spreading its perilous tentacles further. With the Emergency User Approval granted to the Oxford University-AstraZeneca promoted Covishield and the Bharat Biotech promoted Covaxin, the country is all geared up to commence the eagerly awaited vaccination drive in the next three days. A long wait for the elixir of life finally appears near.
PC: Ashish Srivastava (IANS)
- No less than Prime Minister Narendra Modi has chaired meetings over the last couple of days underlining the importance of the vaccination drive. Preparations for the biggest ever vaccination drive has been underway with three prior dry runs to ascertain how well placed the country is to undertake such an enormous task. As is widely circulated, the first stage will witness 30 million frontline and healthcare workers getting vaccinated, a scale that is commensurate with the annual Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP), a humongous exercise.
- As per the announced plan, the second phase is expected to be cover 270 million handpicked people dominated by aged 50 years and above alongside a younger cohort battling comorbidities. Most hearteningly, apart from the two approved vaccines, reports suggest four more candidates are undergoing clinical trials expanding the options available eventually. Initial stage costing will be covered under the PM-Cares funding and subsequent stages should include options to introduce market-priced vaccines to encourage faster progress towards developing herd immunity. People who can afford should have an option to get paid services rendered.
PC: thenewsstand
- It is incumbent on the part of the government to normalize functioning and get the economy back on track. Therefore, it is extremely important to ensure everything works precisely, especially, the digital vaccine delivery management system, Co-WIN, a tool tokeep track of progress. All stakeholders viz. the Centre and the States should combine efforts for the good of the citizens as well as the country’s larger interest. Hopefully, everything will turn out to smooth.
