Even as Covid-19 third wave is imminent with only 21 % of population vaccinated in the seventh month of vaccination drive, authorities propose vaccinating 50% of India’s 138 crore population on priority as men and women currently infected with the virus may perhaps not call for it urgently. Around 69 crore population is currently infected with the virus as per wellness ministry official reports.
Health authorities have for that reason encouraged timely inoculation of Indian population towards Covid third wave preparedness. There is a will need to vaccinate 90 % of the eligible population of 18 and above by December 31, 2021. Though, Government has also committed for assured vaccination doses to the tune of 168 crore by September 2021 but this is way behind the requirement of 188 crore vaccines for the 94 crore eligible population of 18 and above.
Around 21 % vaccination have been completed in the previous 6 months and 78% remains to be completed in the next six months.
Need for inoculating 50% population on priority can also be corroborated by the findings of sero surveillance research completed in the nation in the month of June 2021, based on the samples drawn countrywide which revealed about 30% men and women have been discovered Covid -19 positive. Sero surveys completed also at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi with World Health Organization (WHO) and at AIIMS, Bhopal has also revealed 75% and 77% population is infected with Covid -19 virus respectively and for that reason this population will have to wait for a different 8 months to 12 months to be vaccinated. Sero Surveys information collected by the Union Health Ministry in Uttar Pradesh (UP) also revealed 55% Covid-19 positive instances.
According to Dr. Ishwar Gilada, Consultant in HIV and infectious ailments and Secretary General, Organised Medicine Academic Guild (OMAG), “Immunity can come from both vaccination and infection so those infected do not need vaccination, as per scientific studies. According to NITI Aayog Member Health Dr V K Paul, India could be missing 23 infections for every reported Covid-19 case in the country and as per official records also, currently, only 3 crore 11 lakh people are already infected. So, there is ample clarity that we have around 69 crore population which is already infected with virus and can do away with vaccination thus helping plug the demand supply gap in some way. The window period for the virus in an infected person is 8 to 12 months.”
OMAG is a federal body of 15 skilled associations of post graduate physicians in India, covering 250,000 consultants. OMAG supplies technical guidance to central, state and nearby administrations.
Currently, more than 42.15 crore vaccine doses have been supplied to States and Union Territories (UTs) so far, via all sources and a additional 71,40,000 doses are in the pipeline.
Says Dr Girdhar Gyani, Director General, Association of Healthcare Providers of India (AHPI), “We need to inoculate 10 million every day but we do not have that much production in the country. We have not been able to import the vaccine from the USA and Europe. The gap will remain until we get regularise production of Sputnik and Zydus among others. Luckily, around 25% of Indian population is not coming forward for vaccination and therefore we may quickly finish the willing population first and hopefully by that time vaccine hesitancy may be overcome.”
He additional adds, “Even single dose is good enough to a large extent and hopefully we shall be able to jack up the vaccination by September 2021 to a great extent. I also experienced that in a city like Delhi, there is no shortage. In fact, many hospitals from Delhi did set up camps in other parts of the country. So there was a gross imbalance in supply and procurement of vaccines particularly during the months of May to June 2021. It also left Tier-III towns with no supply. To an extent the revised guidelines issued by the central government have come into effect and we should see supply reaching smaller towns through smaller hospitals soon.”
The Prime Minister lately launched a scheme to train 10,000 Covid warriors via 4-months instruction. AHPI is also working with member hospitals to train the workforce.
“Government may keep in mind the use of final year MBBS and Nursing Colleges students. We may allow MBBS graduates who have passed from foreign countries but have not qualified. Similarly, we can create covid care centres at each Gram Panchayat and hand over to the private players. Governments need to actively engage with the private sector to create synergy, which is lacking,” Dr Gyani concluded.
Accelerated Phase-3 Strategy of Covid-19 vaccination new suggestions have been to come into play from June 21, 2021 beneath which state governments have been to act as aggregators and guarantee uniform provide to all private hospitals based on their capacity. However it took longer than anticipated.
Talking about the Covid-19 situation, Dr. Mahesh Bhatt, Senior Surgeon and Public Health Consultant, Dehradun, “There are concerns that the third wave may impact children badly, though the data from first and second wave did not support it, even then we need to keep our healthcare systems ready for all kind of eventualities.”
According to Ahmedabad based Pharmaceutical Consultant Dr Sanjay Agrawal, “The government must create a mechanism which can audit public and private hospitals for delivery of essential services. The healthcare infrastructure needs to be augmented to tackle the third wave.”
“Blood stock also needs to be continually replenished by conducting regular blood donation drives. The blood, plasma and especially platelet requirements are bound to increase due to the rains and accompanying epidemics of malaria, dengue and leptospirosis among others,” says Dr Abhijeet Bopardikar, Joint Secretary, Federation of Bombay Blood Banks (FBBB).
“Among the most important measure apart from vaccination, rational use of masks, using sanitizers and maintaining physical distance is highly recommended,” according to an Independent Health Expert Anshu Yadav.