INDIA'S BILLION PROBLEM

AS INDIA PUTS TOGETHER ITS FIRSTEVER PUBLIC HEALTH PROGRAMME TO VACCINATE ADULTS, THE COUNTRY OF OVER 1.4 BILLION IS BRACING ITSELF FOR A LOGISTICAL CHALLENGE

- SONALI ACHARJEE

AN ANNOUNCEMENT BY pharma giant Pfizer on November 9 was the first time in a long while that the world saw light at the end of what has seemed an endless, miserable tunnel. The first to end the Phase 3 trial for its Covid vaccine candidate, Pfizer indicated the efficacy of 90 per cent for ‘BNT162b2’. Almost immediately after, three other vaccine candidates— developed by Moderna, Russia’s Gamaleya Institute, and AstraZeneca-Oxford—announced interim results, all indicating above 90 per cent efficacy. A Covid vaccine was suddenly not some distant dream, it seemed like a reality well within the world’s grasp. Upon hearing Pfizer’s news, 80-year-old Prathamesh Kumar, who hasn’t stepped out of his Delhi apartment in eight months, wept. “If a vaccine is made available, I would take it without a second thought,” says Kumar, who, with just his live-in nurse for company, has been unable to see his family, go for walks or attend his great grandson’s first birthday. “For the sake of my children, I have stayed indoors, but it is like being half-alive.” There are millions like Kumar, across age, gender, and background, who are eagerly awaiting a vaccine.