The plus?
The Government seems to be at a crossroads in its tackling of Delta+ variant despite best intentions
Three steps the Union Government has taken in the last couple of days attest to a change for the better in its COVID-19 management policy. The first is the accelerated pace of vaccinations in the country. Over 8.3 million doses were given on a single day on Monday, the highest so far, beating the April 1 record of 4.8 million. In the first week of May, when the second wave of the pandemic was at its peak, single-day vaccinations hovered around 1.6 million. On Tuesday, however, the pace slowed down with some States experiencing a massive fall in the numbers. While the intention of the Government is honourable, to set a scorching pace to reach herd immunity at the earliest, it needs to ensure that the exercise does not become an event but is part of an organised, consistent process. Two, the Government has declared the Delta+ mutation as a Variant of Concern (VoC). The announcement came within hours of the Union Health Secretary saying the variant is only a Variant of Interest (VoI). Such an open contradiction of its Ministry may be unique for this Government, but it shows the latter is proactive and moving ahead with caution, having drawn flak for failing to recognise the Delta variant earlier.
Three, the Government has cautioned the States against unchecked opening up of the lockdown, recommending a close watch on adherence to safety protocols. In perhaps its first, comprehensive advisory to the States concerning Delta+, the Government has asked them to step up monitoring in the six districts in three States where cases of the new variant have been detected, increase testing, contact tracing, and vaccination. However, this is only a bit of the task done. Vaccinations continue to be problematic. The Government does give daily data about the number of doses at hand, but transparency is needed about the doses expected from the Indian and foreign manufacturers and the numbers apportioned to the states. This will enable to streamline the vaccination process. There is now an obvious rush to get free vaccinations leading to a fear of a reduced rush for paid vaccinations in private hospitals. Is it the right time for the Government to take over the procurement and supply of 100 per cent of the vaccinations to rationalise the process? India is yet to nail the vaccine efficacy issue. If it is a case of the more mutations the lesser the efficacy, then the Government has to come clear on a big-picture approach than reactive ones. There are reports of Bharat Biotech releasing data of its third phase trial to the Government regulator, but somehow the company shuns transparency. Also, the campaign to remove vaccine hesitancy is still to go national, presently restricted to the imagination of village-level teams. The unlock remains an issue of grave concern, with neither the States nor the Centre coming with tangible mechanisms to prevent safety violations without affecting economic activity.
Source: PTI
