Covid-19 and India's successful proactive role

Politics for our leaders is all about self-consideration and nothing more. This is a strange predicament of the Indian politician. Come what may he will play to the gallery. Taking a shot of vaccine is a personal choice, no doubt. However, here it is slightly different. You don't take the vaccine and catch the virus, you will be spreading it to others. if the virus were to be non-contagious, no one would have bothered about such politicians.

So why are some of them refusing to take the vaccine dose or ask people to go for it. Does vaccine have a political colour? India will be able to vaccinate the entire population soon, says Harsh Vardhan Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan. Soon it would be a reality to vaccinate the entire population in the country against Covid-19 after prioritising risk groups. The Centre has started a new Covid platform to track particulars of potential vaccine beneficiaries and also issue electronic certificates to them.

The dry run is progressing well in the country so far. Even if there are going to be any complications in a few cases, it is only expected. India has done extremely well in developing vaccines in the shortest possible time, and presently two vaccines have been given emergency use authorisation.

"In the next few days, also in the near future, we should be able to give this vaccine to our countrymen prioritising those who are at risk in public and private sectors. The government has already made known the scheme of things," the Minister has added. In a country that is vast like India with a population of 1.35 billion, everything was done smoothly and meticulously without any glitches. India had started the preparation for the impending vaccine drive against Covid four or five months ago after Prime Minister Narendra Modi constituted the national expert group for vaccination.

All the minute details were worked out and the information was shared with those at the grassroot level. In the process, several lakhs of health workers were trained adequately. Earlier, the government used to track the vaccine in terms of the temperature it was stored. Now we started the new Covid platform in tracking the details of potential beneficiaries, places where they are likely to get the shots, pre and post vaccination including giving an electronic certificate and follow it up with the second dose with detailed text messages and reminders.

This is a remarkable achievement. India was the first country in the world to take note of the pandemic on January 6, 2020 and launch into action. A year of action has led to the country having one million testing kits per day from a mere one when the pandemic started. India has the highest recovery rate and the lowest fatality rate and almost all those infected got treated and returned home.

The scientists and medical fraternity besides those in diverse fields rose to the occasion and displayed exemplary dedication and commitment. India is able to export PPE kits, N95 masks and ventilators – almost everything that people used to talk about shortage then. Let us, once in a while, acknowledge India's capability too.