Health

Narendra Modi government can easily pay for COVID-19 vaccines: Here's how

 
By DTE Staff
Published: Monday 10 May 2021

The biggest worry in India’s fight against the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is vaccination. With an exponential rise in cases, India’s health care sector is crumbling under the pressure. But vaccination is the only way to ensure that India’s health sector does not collapse completely.

But this is where India's vaccination policy has gone completely wrong. The way India is handling its vaccination could lead to a greater crisis than the one we have seen so far. India has a universal immunization program that covers 12 diseases like tuberculosis, diphtheria, whooping cough, measles, polio just to name a few.

And this immunisation is coordinated by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The role of the central government here is to procure the vaccines before they are administered through the health centers which are run by the state governments.

In short, the Centre procures the vaccines and distributes it to the state governments for delivery. This was the model for vaccination adopted by India till April 30, 2021. But the vaccine strategy from May 1 turned this system on its own head.

 

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