“We discussed delaying it by three months, six months, or nine months, but finally we said ‘we can manage it with three months, let’s do three months for now” Arora said
Narendra Kumar Arora, head of the government’s National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation, told Reuters on Friday that the Centre’s move of patients taking the vaccination three months after recovery, compared with the earlier recommendation of about one month is been done to save vaccine doses.
The head of the panel also added that the vaccination drive should not have been opened to all adults before covering the most vulnerable.
Under fire for his handling of the world’s worst rise in coronavirus infections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made all adults eligible for vaccination from May 1. Vaccine shortages have now forced many states, including the capital New Delhi, to again prioritize those aged above 45.
“We discussed delaying it by three months, six months, or nine months, but finally we said ‘we can manage it with three months, let’s do three months for now” Arora said
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He said that given the vaccine shortage in India, the focus should have been on immunizing the most at risk.
“Our group prioritized those aged 45 or more,” he said. “Because 75% of the mortality and morbidity is in that age group.”
Although it seems that India has crossed the peak and is showing downward trends, the vaccination drive isn’t going ahead as the government would expect. Only 9,42,722 doses were administered in the country in the last 24 hours.
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