Midwifing The Vaccine

The When is visible but there’s much left to do on the Who and How

- Bachi Karkaria

Jesus had it easier than Harsh Vardhan. The miracle of ‘feeding the 5,000’ too was strapped by the limited resources of ‘five loaves and two fish’, but the disciples were told to just go distribute them to the crowd. Christ didn’t need policy, planning or prioritization. The Union health minister does. Making up for the earlier lack of transparency, Dr. Vardhan has begun his own Mantri ki Baat, the Sunday Samvad. Mercifully, it is low on platitudes, high on specifics. More Project Manager than Master-ji, he submits a weekly progress report to the nation. He sounds convincing. How reassured should we be?

Arrayed on the plus side are our scientific institutions and an enviable vaccine-manufacturing industry. Every eighth immunised child in the world has the Serum Institute of India to thank. Its Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is a global frontrunner.

Also sprinting are the fully indigenous ICMR-NIV/ Bharat Biotech inactivated virus vaccine and Zydus Cadila’s unique DNA-based one. Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories has received renewed DCGI permission to conduct late-stage trials of Russia’s Sputnik V. Dr. VK Paul, a member of Niti Aayog says, “Several other companies are in talks with the government because everyone is interested in our huge manufacturing capacity.” Official optimism is endorsed by the likes of Bill Gates and Soumya Swaminathan, WHO’s chief scientist.