INDIA’S BILLION PROBLEM

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 an 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.

However, given the daunting task of vaccinating a population of over 1.4 billion, the logistics of procuring, storing and disseminating a Covid vaccine poses some major challenges for India. “In a country as large as India, a lot of things need to be taken into consideration when devising a plan for the Covid vaccine,” says Dr Randeep Guleria, director, AIIMS, Delhi, and head of the National Expert Committee on Vaccine Administration for Covid-19. The