Over the past few weeks, the second wave of Covid-19 infections and the acute shortage of vaccines had led to considerable public anger aga...
Over the past few weeks, the second wave of Covid-19 infections and the acute shortage of vaccines had led to considerable public anger against the government.
Despite being fully aware of a potential vaccine shortage, the Union government had held back permissions for new vaccines, such as the Sputnik V, to be used in India. Instead, it relied disproportionately on the ability of two private companies – the Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech – to ramp up their production capacities.
The failure of these firms to supply adequate quantities of vaccines had resulted in several vaccination centres suspending operations and beneficiaries being turned away.
As a result, as developed countries are racing to vaccinate as many of their people as they can in the shortest time span, India is a laggard. As of April 17, the share of population vaccinated in the United Kingdom stood at 48.2%, at 38.2% in the United States and at 18.9% in Germany – but just 7.7% in India.
When Narendra Modi called for a tika utsav or vaccine festival between April 11 and April 14, the number of doses being administered during that period was actually lower than it had been on previous days in the month.
The policy shifts
This is the context in which the...
