Editorial: In need of a real boost

Last week, three new studies were published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) which said the protection offered by vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna against COVID-19, diminishes over time. And the Delta variant affects both vaccinated and non-vaccinated in the same manner. This has prompted experts to debate about the eventual need to offer booster shots for all vaccinated individuals. The studies were made public one week after the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) authorised booster shots or third vaccine doses for those with weakened immunity and recipients of transplants.

The implications of providing a booster shot are multifarious in India. Two weeks ago, India completed the significant 50 crore inoculation mark. Presently, India’s vaccination drive has disbursed 57 crore doses, of which 44.57 crores comprise first doses, and 12.70 crores comprise second doses. Essentially, only a third of the adult population has received at least one dose, while just 10 per cent has received both doses.

The Centre’s plan involves fully vaccinating 135 crore citizens by the end of the year, which seems like a tall order, as it took India seven months to disburse 50 crore doses. BJP’s National President JP Nadda had said that India will be in the custody of well over 136 crore doses of the vaccine, by the end of 2021, as production has been amped up. To speed up the vaccine manufacturing, the PM had driven the simplification of the compulsory licensing policy, while clearing Russia’s Sputnik vaccine, and giving the green signal to Johnson & Johnson for Emergency Use Authorisation of its vaccine in India. The American pharmaceutical giant has now applied to the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation seeking permission to conduct clinical trials of its single shot Janssen vaccine against COVID-19 on adolescents aged 12-17 years.

While this is an encouraging development, India’s challenges involve the disbursal of just two shots of the COVID vaccine for all adults. Having breached the 3.23 crore mark in cumulative infections since the pandemic began, India is reporting an average of over 36,000 cases every day. The lion’s share of the spike is being reported in Tamil Nadu’s neighbouring state of Kerala with over 20,000 daily cases last week. Thanks to the efforts of the corona warriors, and the state government which has employed a zero-tolerance policy towards COVID protocol violators, TN has witnessed a continuous decline in the number of new cases. As of Sunday, new cases stood at 1,652, while the total caseload stood at 25.99 lakh.

Return to normalcy is also being tied to one’s vaccination status, a predicament considering the vaccine shortage in India. Last week, Mumbai made it mandatory for passengers of local trains to have had both doses of the vaccine in order to board the trains, as well as shoppers to enter malls. In the global arena, Israel, Germany and France are among those nations that have already drawn up plans to disburse booster shots. The fact that the Director-General of the WHO had to reprimand developed nations that had already gobbled up a big chunk of the global vaccine supply, by administering booster shots, speaks volumes about the chasm separating low income and high-income nations. While the Director of the National Institute of Virology has said booster doses will be recommended in India in the future, the fact remains that the idea of the third dose is a low priority action item as of now.

Currently, India manages to disburse about 50 lakh vaccines per day, but if the Centre is keen on meeting any of its vaccine targets for the year 2021, it would need to disburse nothing short of 80-90 lakh doses per day. More than the booster, what we need right now is a capacity boost to the prevalent supply of vaccines.