Vaccination: Blaming states won’t help

India’s vaccination drive has slowed down in July after registering improved numbers for some days before that. In the last seven days, the number of doses delivered daily averaged about 3.5 million, a far cry from the 5.8 million doses a day in the week after June 21. The government had started the present campaign with a bang on June 21 when it reversed the earlier vaccination policy. But it has turned into a whimper since. States like Delhi and Maharashtra are again complaining of vaccine shortage and under-utilisation of vaccination capacity. Odisha and Madhya Pradesh have stopped vaccination in some districts. Tamil Nadu has said that the vaccine allocation for the state is not only inadequate but low compared to BJP-ruled states like Gujarat and Karnataka. While some states have said that the supply is irregular, the Centre has blamed “poor planning by states” for their difficulties. The new Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has asserted that there is no shortage and that states are making “useless statements'' and “creating panic.’’

The figures show that the problem is more about the availability of vaccine than about management. The states can only be expected to optimise the vaccinations and there are no reports of poor implementation of the programme or wastage of vaccines. The government has proclaimed that all eligible adults would be vaccinated by the end of this year. That would call for about 8.8 million vaccinations per day all days of the week until the end of the year. That number was achieved only on June 21. At the present pace of 3-3.5 million per day, the target will not be achieved this year. There is an immediate need to increase the supply of vaccines and to consider a change of strategy wherever necessary.

The supply of vaccines can be increased only if their production is increased and more vaccines are imported. The government had earlier claimed that 2.16 billion doses of vaccines would be made available between August and December. Later, in an affidavit submitted to the Supreme Court, it gave a different figure and said that 1.35 billion doses would be made available. This will be inadequate as at least 1.88 billion doses are needed to achieve the declared target. Vaccine manufacturers need to be incentivised to increase their production. They have said that some important inputs are not available and have requested the government to take steps to ease trade restrictions. Covaxin producer Bharat Biotech, which had promised to triple its capacity, is said to be facing serious delays due to various reasons. The government should ensure that adequate doses are produced or imported and distributed among states in a fair and transparent manner. Blaming states will not help.