Vaccinating India to Defeat Corona (E)
Can India vaccinate its entire population before this year ends? the current thinking it can be done! To take a close look at how the national vaccination strategy is being implemented on the ground, Dr N K Arora Chairman of India's Technical Advisory Group on Covid-19 Vaccination travelled with the India Science team to rural Haryana. This episode is all about a first-hand look at vaccination efforts beyond mega cities. India currently has one of the world’s most ambitious Covid-19 vaccination programs and three vaccines are being used Covishield; Covaxin and Sputnik while half a dozen more are under clinical trials. The vaccination drive started with vaccinating frontline workers and people over 60 years; later it was expanded to vaccinate all over 45 years of age with defined co-morbidities. In a quantum jump the vaccination was expanded to all over 18 years of age. India uses a digital platform Cowin to track vaccinations. Many say it is large cities that are getting vaccinated and rural areas are getting left out? Also, there is feeling that the digital interface is leaving out from the vaccination effort many who do not have internet access. The ground reality at village Allika was that vaccines were available in walk slots and even those did not have smart phones could get vaccinated. "
