The National Covid-19 immunisation Programme of India began on January 16, 2021, with the initial goal of quickly vaccinating the entire adult population of the country. The initiative was expanded to include everyone 12 years of age and older, as well as everyone 18 years of age and older for the precautionary dose.
The introduction of Covid-19 vaccines came with a number of difficulties, including the need to scale up the vaccination programme while also providing all necessary health services, training more than 2.6 lakh vaccine administrators and 4.8 lakh other vaccination team members, and reaching difficult-to-reach populations.
In addition to logistical challenges, vaccine administration was initially hampered by vaccine hesitancy in a country with 1.38 billion people. People who believed vaccines were hazardous and ineffectual presented resistance to medical personnel. The vaccination campaign was dragged down significantly by people’s desire to wait and see if the vaccine was safe, even though adverse effects were frequently the main reason for opposition. Furthermore, the Indian government began its vaccine diplomacy operations as the country’s immunisation campaign was gaining traction, resulting in brief shortages.
The success of the Covid-19 immunisation programme in India proved that, in addition to being the world’s best contract manufacturer, we are also the best at developing vaccines. It proved the effectiveness of public-private cooperation. It demonstrated that India’s logistics for the supply of vaccines can match or even surpass the best on the planet.
Governments at the central and state levels were crucial to the Covid-19 vaccination programme. The central government was in charge of developing policies and regulations, approving vaccines for use in emergencies, giving vaccine manufacturers financial support to increase their production capacity, funding the purchase and distribution of vaccines, and overseeing the vaccination programme. States’ responsibilities included locating immunisation locations, managing logistics, educating staff, and updating daily data on vaccinations. For the purpose of promoting accurate information to support the vaccination programme, both governments launched awareness initiatives.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is the owner of the CoWIN (Covid-19 Vaccine Intelligence Network) app, which was previously the platform for carrying out Pulse Polio and other significant and extremely successful immunisation campaigns across the nation. The National Informatics Centre and the Ministry of Electronics and IT are now in charge of the platform’s backend and technical infrastructure after it was expanded for the distribution of Covid-19 vaccinations. Another illustration of how the Modi administration has seamlessly adopted technology to ensure last-mile delivery is CoWIN.
For India, the path to success was not simple. Our country provided vaccines to several countries. It was a matter of Seva for India, not statecraft. We sought ways to achieve independence and were eventually successful. The vaccination drive’s success serves as a model not only for the country, but also for the entire world.