The Final Hurdle: Covid-19

The world may finally see light at the end of the tunnel. After eight long months in the darkness, vaccines for Covid-19 have been developed in record time, and governments across the globe are making hectic preparations to procure and vaccinate their citizens. Britain has begun rolling out the Covid-19 vaccine -- BNT162b2 – that has been developed by American firm Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech. The same pharmaceutical giant had sought approval from Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) for emergency use authorisation (EUA) of its vaccine in India earlier this month, and it was followed by Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) for the Oxford University-AstraZeneca’s vaccine candidate, Covishield, and Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech’s indigenously developed Covaxin. Now, the ball is in the court of the Drugs Controller General of India to fast-track approval procedures though, there is no specific provision for emergency approvals under India’s drug regulations. It is reported however that India is accelerating its review process and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also supplemented it by stating that the country will not have to wait too long for the vaccine, whilst also reminding citizens not to let their guard down. As the rollout of the vaccine in the country appears eminent, the DCGI should ensure that safety is not compromised and transparency is maintained.

The government of India has begun preparing for massive vaccination drives across the country, from arranging adequate cold storage facilities to ensuring smooth distribution. Nagaland government too has announced that it has initiated preparations by forming a national expert group on vaccines administration for Covid-19 (NEGVAC) besides constituting several committees with specified roles to establish a co-ordination mechanism at state as well as district levels. It has also suggested that elderly people, frontline workers, and those vulnerable to the disease should get the vaccine first before it is rolled out to the general public. This is a much-needed move as carrying out an exercise of this magnitude requires meticulous planning- from prioritisation to logistics, more so because Nagaland is a hilly state with tough terrains which will make transportation of medical supplies more challenging than other Indian states. Despite all the clamour and criticisms coming its way when the pandemic-induced lockdown was imposed in March this year, not to forget some loopholes and failures as well, the government of Nagaland handled the crisis reasonably well compared to other states, from setting up of numerous quarantine centres to bringing stranded citizens, to containing the spread of the disease till date. It was because of good prior planning, the late outbreak of the pandemic in the state; and of course the co-operation from various civil society organisations and well-wishers. This experience should help the state government in carrying out the vaccination exercise too. There should not be any preferential treatment. The public should continue to follow all preventive measures and patiently "wait in line" for their turn of vaccine shot without causing unnecessary commotion.