Covid-19 vaccination gathers momentum

The countrywide Covid-19 vaccination campaign launched on February 7 has had a promising first week as more people began to register for the vaccine. Till Thursday night, around 5.5 lakh people had been given the jabs while the number of those who registered online reached around 14 lakh. The first week's charts, both of registration and vaccination, show an upward trend, after an initially lukewarm response from the public. This has led the authorities to reconsider the vaccination target for the first month as well as allowing on-the-spot registration for senior citizens. Also, there have been no reports of anyone falling severely ill, requiring hospitalisation or dying of Covid-19 after vaccination. All this—along with the deft execution of plans and flexible decision-making in light of emerging situations—gives us a sense of confidence about the success of the campaign in the long run.

But any optimism at this stage should be cautious because of the long, arduous journey that lies ahead. After a good start, the challenge for any mass immunisation campaign is to keep up the momentum. This means, the public should be constantly motivated to get the vaccine, while the authorities have to ensure a steady supply of vaccines for them. Vaccinating a large number of the population is a daunting prospect indeed. There are huge logistical challenges associated with it. As the number of candidates for the vaccine grows, so will the need for more trained human resources, more vaccination centres and a more flexible registration process. The news that the rush for vaccine has resulted in many failing to find a date for taking the jabs even after they had received confirmation of their registration may be a sign of things to come. So the government must be careful to remove all barriers, technical or physical, to the registration process. At the same time, its existing system for test and treatment of Covid-19 must function as before, unhindered by the drive for vaccination.

The inoculation campaign has, once again, brought to the fore the importance of a digitised health sector. Digitisation of the healthcare delivery system, along with all vital sectors of public interest, is the need of the hour, and bridging the digital gap in the country should be at the top of the agenda for the policymakers. In the short term, however, the authorities must make sure that the digital gap, along with other problems associated with registration, doesn't come in the way of vaccinating the most at-risk groups of the population, especially those above 55 and with pre-existing medical conditions.