About 35 per cent of healthcare workers across India have either declined, failed to turn up or not received Covid-19 vaccines although the Union health ministry had set Saturday as a target for their first jabs.
The nationwide vaccination campaign had until 6pm Saturday inoculated 6.35 million (66 per cent) of more than 9.6 million eligible healthcare workers with their first doses of Covid-19 vaccines, according to health ministry figures.
Twelve states, including Bihar, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, have provided the first doses to more than 75 per cent of their healthcare workers.
But seven states Delhi, Tamil Nadu, and Punjab, among them have inoculated less than half of their healthcare workers.
World must reap and build on the collateral benefits of the pandemic, writes Harini Calamur
At the top of the list is the outstanding level of scientific collaboration across borders. There has been a breaking down of silos within science and unprecedented levels of co-operation in the battle against an unseen enemy. Covid has changed the way in which nations and institutions approach science
Lockdown plus: The Himalayas were visible from Jalandhar, Punjab, after decades
Twitter (@Deewalia)
The economies of nation states across the world have taken a major hit from the Covid pandemic. But there have been some silent collateral benefits. As the world begins to rebuild itself post-Covid, it is important to look at these benefits and see how we can build on them.
1342 Unprecedented: The Central and state governments are grappling with the gigantic task of administering the Covid vaccines. PTI
Parsa Venkateshwar Rao Jr
Senior Journalist
The sense of relief and euphoria felt by the people and the Modi government over the availability of Covid-19 vaccines at the beginning of the new year is understandable after the long lockdown of 2020 and the mental and physical stress it caused all round. The Central and state governments are now grappling with the gigantic task of administering the vaccines manufactured by Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) and Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech. There are going to be hurdles and glitches as the operation unfolds, but the sense of helplessness is gone. With the vaccines at hand, the hospitals and the frontline health workers with auxiliary support from the administration at all levels can succeed in immunising a large section of the population during the year.
India will launch its most ambitious and the world’s largest Covid-19 vaccination drive on Saturday. Inoculating the country’s vast and distributed population is a big challenge but India’s past experience in mass vaccination will come in handy here.
The current Covid-19 vaccination drive also leans heavily on processes, manpower, database and experience of the Universal Immunisation Programme that vaccinated over 27 million pregnant women and 25 million infants every year.
Much before modern vaccine interventions were developed in the West and brought to India by the British, this important and cost-effective public health intervention tool was well known to Indians. Ancient literary evidence suggests smallpox inoculation was practised in India and a few other countries as early as 1000 AD, writes Dr Chandrakant Lahariya, a leading health system expert, in an article published in the Indian Journal of Medical Research.
COVID-19 deepens healthcare nightmare for India s indigenous people eco-business.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from eco-business.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.