12 Jun Refocused vaccination campaigns are possible (The Hindu, GS-2, Governance)

Context:- There are many issues regarding the vaccination programme. Here the government couldn’t prioritise the vaccination programme.

What are the issues in vaccination:-

• Less production, More demand.
• transition from a lack of vaccine supply to one of greater availability.
• prioritise people like the two octogenarians in Mumbai
• Local governments and municipalities should also prioritise vaccines for the historically marginalised

Examples of state run vaccination programme, chhattisgarh:

• The plan prioritised ration card holders specifically because they are poor and marginalised
• They also often lack access to mobile phones and the Internet,
• we have to make prioritisation of the marginalised when vaccine supply is limited 
• According to WHO prioritising sociodemographic groups at significantly higher risk of severe disease or death should be the way forward.
• remove barriers to vaccination to minimise preventable disease and deaths.

Case of india;-

• India is depended and will continues to depend on the AstraZeneca vaccine, Why?

• • it was stable in a refrigerator for longer periods than mRNA vaccines
• Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) and Auxiliary Nurse­Midwives (ANMs) have vast experience and expertise with campaign­ style must be exploited.
• Urban slums and neighbourhoods have poor access to and low levels of trust in the health­care system
• local governments are considering providing vaccines to older adults at door to door.
• We have to ensure that those who work for daily wages are able to get the vaccine 
  • vaccine distribution should be prioritised to districts of permanent domicile.
• Local planning will need to go hand­in­hand with a refocus on equity and justice.
• vaccines would be procured + equitably distributed to countries based on need through the COVAX facility which is an international alliance to fight COVID-19

Supply Chain Gap:

• • A Huge gap to vaccinate all its adult population.
  • In India about 13% of its population has received a single jab and about 2% fully vaccinated and out of this most of are health professionals.
  • Many countries have already vaccinated more than half their adult population for example Bhutan if single dose is been taken into account.

• Unequal Procurement Process:

• Digital Divide among rural and urban, among rich and poor, among middle class and lower class etc.

Swarn Singh

Plutus IAS Current Affair Team Member