Coronavirus Part 35, Vaccination and Growth of Nation

 

               The image of the covid-19 second wave seems like slowly fading from its peak. The nation which endured the heavy firing is slowly under the defence with good cover from the virus. After the meteoric rise in April, May, total infections are experiencing a fall in this month which is a good sign of a quick recovery from the clutches of the virus. The average of cases in this week is around 65 thousand which has been dropping by each successive week. Just as of today, my state has completely lifted all the lockdown restrictions from 20^th of this month. We are once again out there in the free and open world. But we are sitting on a strange and unknown future as nothing can be taken for granted in this corona world. There can be another spike around the corner or another wave in near future and we can be locked down again after it is completely unlocked briefly. To give a faint certainty to the uncertain times, vaccination is one of the hopes for resurrection. How far and how quick we can vaccinate everybody should be a matter of everyone’s concern.

               There is a target laid down that we need to administer 200 crore vaccination doses to the 100 crore eligible population. Till date we had given 27.2 crore doses. If we can give 27 crore doses since 5 months from inception, it would take 3.1 years to administer 200 crore doses. To fully vaccinate the country at the present rate, it would take time till 2024. But our government has set ambitious target to inoculate the entire population by this year end. That is achievable if we can provide 1 crore vaccines every day for the next six months which translates to 180 crore doses in 180 days. At present, we are giving 33 lakh doses per day. This 33 lakh has to become 1 crore sooner than later. In simple terms, if we can increase the rate by 3 times and maintain it till year end, we can momentarily heave a sigh of relief and get out of any imminent danger in terms of death rates.

               If we look at the global scenario, it proves that this is possible as long as we have vaccine stocks available. Taking an example of similar countries in size, China could administer 97 crore vaccine doses till date. This is 70 crore more than India by the same time. Hence, there is little doubt in how well China could contain the virus. By showing the urgency well ahead of time, it could demonstrate to the world the care it provides for its citizens. U.S. could administer 31.4 crore vaccines covering 53% of its population with at least a single dose. India provided vaccine to a meagre 15.5% of its population with at least a single dose. This falls below the world share as well where 21% of world population is vaccinated with a single dose. Moreover, the number of people who are fully vaccinated is a meagre 3.5% of the total population. This tells the countries which are similar by size and population has done it far better by setting the benchmark. India needs to prepare a much better vaccine policy to reach its target to vaccinate the billion population in the coming days. Vaccination awareness and drives are the need of the hour as the country’s poor need to be inoculated some way or the other.

               While implementing a good vaccine strategy, the country needs to be prepared for any possible third wave in the immediate future. There is every possible scenario that the spike in infections can happen any time as the virus is known to mutate periodically. The mutating virus strains of the future can spread faster than anticipated and cause damage. One of the disturbing trends is more children below 18 years of age are contracting the virus. In the first wave less than 1% of the children are infected whereas in the second wave the infection rate among children has gone upto 10% of total infections. On the ground as well, more children are being tested positive for the virus in the recent past in the health centres. This disturbing trend has to be arrested in the bud itself and children should not be allowed in groups in any way in the near future. More caution has to be exercised as more children are being infected and this trend may continue in the days to come. Any of the public gatherings of children for classes, exams should not be permitted in the next few months. This tells that this academic year will also continue online for most of the kids. To save them from any potential life threatening cases and restore the old days of class room training, vaccine for kids has to be developed and given as quickly as possible.

               While the pandemic has applied brakes on the nation and become a speed breaker, there are some who are working day-in and day-out, even during the days of lockdown. I am one of the examples, who inadvertently worked more during the pandemic and days of lockdown. My workload increased during the past year or more and I have been more regular than ever. But why should anyone struggle so much in life and why should we Indians work like soldiers on a tough terrain. We cannot compare ourselves with any of the other laidback and developed countries. But to reach there, we need to work hard and struggle in our lives to elevate ourselves to the better and higher planes. This Indian work ethic is very much required for the time being as the average Indian is still rated primitive, basic and third world when compared with the progressive world. We need to struggle to grow and this should translate and reflected in the growth of the country.

               There is a good personal growth in the last few years for me, but I cannot tell the same about the country. If men like me are the precedent, the country should grow at least by 10% every year in the next few years. I worked as much that I grew by more than 20% in the past few years. At least half should translate into the growth % of this country. This 10% growth should happen which will only indicate that our country is travelling in the correct direction. Our efforts should lead to a good overall development and the efforts of the present times should provide the foundation for future trajectory. The GDP growth rate in 2019 is 4.18% and in 2020 it is negative -7.3%. The growth rate is negative owing to the pandemic which is the first time in many decades. This has to be overturned quickly and we need to work with a sense of urgency and emergency to push the growth rate to more than 10% in the near future. The urgency and emergency I had shown in the past many years has to pave way for a more growth-oriented and developed country.