A concrete Covid-19 vaccine distribution plan is finally taking shape in India.
Once a vaccine is available in the country, the government plans to immunise 30 million citizens 10 million healthcare workers in private and government-owned hospitals, and 20 million frontline workers that includes police, defence, and municipal workers in the first round, according to a Dec. 8 press release from the ministry of health and family welfare.
So far, three vaccine makers have applied for an emergency use authorisation of their coronavirus vaccines in India. These are Pfizer, Serum Institute of India, which is manufacturing the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, and Bharat Biotech for its Covaxin.
Towards a People’s Vaccine Campaign: A call to action
15 Jan 2021
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The Covid-19 pandemic is wreaking havoc millions in South Africa and globally are being infected and dying. Vaccinating a significant part of the population is the only realistic way to defeat the pandemic. Achieving this will require international co-operation and solidarity. Unity in action across all sectors of our society is now paramount. We need vigilance and solidarity to slow the rate of infection and to unburden health facilities. The reported acquisition of 1.5 million doses of C-19 vaccines for frontline healthcare workers is welcomed, but this must be the start of urgently acquiring millions more. An estimated 40 to 80 million doses will be needed, along with a massive roll-out effort to achieve herd immunity. This cannot be done by the government alone. We, the people, especially the millions of poor and working-class people, must be central to this effort.
As everyone reading this knows, the Covid-19 pandemic is raging around the world, with South Africa in the grip of a second wave worse than the first. At least 32,000 people in SA have died directly from Covid-19, and we have had over 71,000 “excess deaths” that can be attributed to the pandemic.
Vaccines save lives. They are one of the most successful public health interventions ever – the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that immunisation saves over two million lives every year (four per minute).
New vaccines for Covid-19 have been developed very quickly (in under a year – faster than the four years of development for the mumps vaccine, the previous recordholder).
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