India has now touched the mark of over 2.5 lakh new Covid-19 cases. These numbers reflect the growing intensity of the second wave of Covid-19. And it is rising at a magnitude which is far higher than what we saw last year after the onset of this pandemic in India. But still in India deaths per million and cases per million are among the lowest in the world. Yet that couldn’t stop the impact of Covid-19 on our healthcare system. In the past some days, there have been reports of long queues for RTPPCR tests, shortage of beds, oxygen supplies and ICU facilities in some states. With such unusual circumstances now the need is to ramp up vaccination drive and immediately expand it to other age groups including youth on the basis of needs and criticality. Young people are worried about their turn for getting vaccinated. The government should fast track and start vaccination for young people as at the current pace India will need another one year to vaccinate half of the population. Additionally, by vaccinating the young age group we will be able to reduce hospital admissions and save healthcare institutions from burden. Moreover, the second wave is infecting young people at a higher speed and in turn with this many of them are likely to infect the older people in the society who already are going through a rough passage of time. For this an urgent and renewed commitment is needed from both state and centre governments to end the dilemma around the ongoing vaccination drive.
Historical highs in terms of daily cases are reported and alongside it also the reports of vaccine shortage has come out from some places in the country. This thing is being attributed to the export of a high number of vaccine doses. Because vaccine manufacturing is a complex process so therefore export of vaccine should be stopped until vaccination objectives are achieved in India. While this all is happening in the country, some other vaccine manufacturers are still awaiting approval from experts for use in India. At this critical juncture India should clear the way for these other vaccine manufacturers at the earliest. On one hand, it is said that vaccines are not an instant cure and on the other hand shortage of vaccines in the country can definitely add to social problems. This has already affected the mental health of many with questions like: Will I get the vaccine? Will I get treatment in the hospital? Will my parents-relatives survive if I infect them? Such a situation can end only with some vital changes from the government in the vaccination plans in order to bring a sense of confidence in citizens that they haven’t been left to God’s mercy in the country.
There is no denying that in the past some days there has been a steady surge in corona virus cases, deaths and hospitalizations in Jammu and Kashmir too. It indicates that the second wave of the virus is already here like the rest of the country. However, no shortage of the vaccine till now has been reported from Jammu and Kashmir and the vaccination drive is going on with people being administered the Covishield vaccine The recent spike has led to night curfew from 10 pm to 6 am, few micro containment zones and closure of schools, colleges and universities for students in the region to curb the surging coronavirus. Even if we continue with Covid-19 appropriate behaviors, the need is also for new Covid appropriate governance which would help to tackle the spread of the virus. Although we cannot afford to let our guard down against this virus, it will take a few more months to break the pandemic. The next eight to twelve weeks will be critical and if all countermeasures are not put in place, we could end up having a situation which could be worse than last year because the new mutant of this virus is more deadly. With cases and deaths growing everywhere we all want our country to sustain and win this fight!
