Current Covid-19 crisis in India — Global solidarity and coordinated efforts is the need of the hour
A grim reality of India’s current COVID-19 outbreak: The second wave which began in March 2021, has escalated rapidly. On May 6, 2021, India reported over 400,000 new cases and 3,980 virus-related deaths, marking the world’s highest single-day spike of COVID-19 cases. It seems the nightmare is far from being over. The second wave of the coronavirus has grown into a deadly tsunami that is killing thousands each day. India is now the global coronavirus hotspot, setting records for the world’s highest number of cases bringing the total of reported cases to over 20 million since the pandemic began, as a second wave sweeps the country. Heart-wrenching images of hospitals overflowing with the sick and dying from India, the desperate appeals for oxygen supplies made by the medical staff & the public alike, and climbing death tolls are making global headlines. Under-reporting of case numbers and mortality, insufficient testing, underfunded public health infrastructure, logistical bottlenecks, and mismanagement in resource allocation are some of the major issues amongst several others that have contributed to this acute crisis. A country with a fragile healthcare system that has been overstretched beyond its limits is struggling in the battle against the COVID- 19 tsunami and the worst is yet to come. India is desperately fighting against the exponential acceleration of the current COVID-19 outbreak and the emergence of a new virus variant known as B.1.617 detected in the country.
Amidst this ferocious second wave surge, India is also running out of COVID-19 vaccines. This situation is still unfolding, as many states have sought an expansion of the inoculation drive to include all adults as cases rise, and following the Central government’s announcement that citizens in the 18–44 years age group would also be eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccination. India’s vaccination drive is entangled in a logistical nightmare, poor immunization/vaccine policy and strategies, shortage of raw materials, an ambitious presumption of manufacturing capacity,…..resulting in vaccine shortage for its citizens during this ongoing catastrophe.
The current COVID-19 mayhem in India is a national crisis with global repercussions:
Continued transmission and circulation of the virus mean more chances for the virus to mutate and create variants that could potentially evade vaccines, prolonging the threat, and global recovery. The Indian outbreak needs to be contained as the world risks replicating the scenes witnessed in India — — especially if newer, potentially more contagious variants are allowed to take hold as seen in the case of Nepal, which shares its borders with India. India will not be the last country to see a major spike in COVID cases; many countries that have dodged the earlier wave, particularly the lower and middle-income countries are more vulnerable where the vaccination rates and availability of supply are dismally low.
Hiccups in Equitable access to vaccines and worldwide vaccine rollout
The vaccine sharing COVAX initiative which is co-led by CEPI, Gavi, and WHO with the best intention and aim to guarantee fair and equitable vaccine access for every country in the world is far from achieving the set target. The global situation remains vastly uneven. India, a key player in COVAX, the global vaccine-sharing initiative that provides discounted or free doses for lower-income countries is grappling with a spiralling COVID second wave. And its own rapidly worsening situation has prompted the country to shift focus from COVAX to prioritizing India’s own citizens’ needs, which could result in delay and disrupt the vaccine rollout for countries like South Africa, Brazil, and other low and middle-income countries.
Despite being home to the world’s biggest vaccine producer, the Serum Institute of India (SII), India doesn’t have enough doses and is struggling to meet the domestic needs in the face of dire circumstances. This in turn will affect the “WHO’s campaign for #VaccineEquity, which aims to overcome the pandemic and the inequalities that lie at the root of so many global health challenges”.
Response to the unfolding catastrophe and the need for a coordinated global response:
The international community is just starting to respond to India’s COVID crisis and has extended help. Several countries such as the US, UK, Russia, France, UAE, and even distant countries such as Taiwan, have stepped in, to mitigate the unfolding disaster by sending aid in the form of oxygen concentrators, cylinders, and pulse oximeters, drugs, PPE kits, and rapid testing kits. Meanwhile, India is pinning hopes on mass vaccination drives to curb the spreading virus. But for severely hit countries such as India, there are major hurdles in achieving this objective. One of the major road-block is intellectual property protection for COVID-19 vaccines. The call for relaxing intellectual property rules for COVID-19 vaccines is gaining momentum; the waiver, proposed by India and South Africa, could remove obstacles to ramping up the production of vaccines in developing countries. The World Trade Organization (WTO) reportedly discussed the proposal to temporarily waive patents for both COVID-19 vaccines and treatments until the global health crisis is under control. The Biden administration on Wednesday announced its support for waiving intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines. No decision has been made by the WTO members yet. But there is a rise in the growing amount of debate and critics arguing against such measures.
In the midst of the acute threat of the pandemic, vaccine diplomacy, and inequity, there is yet to be a comprehensive, concerted plan of action, orchestrated by global leaders to combat the pandemic.
The pandemic exposes and exacerbates multiple fault lines of social and economic inequality and injustice across the domestic and international dimensions which in themselves are highly political. The control of the pandemic in every country around the globe is imperative otherwise the world will still remain at risk, and the evolution of new variants from mutation of the virus as it spreads could eventually resist and evade current vaccines, threatening to undermine progress made in containing the pandemic. This is a war against a common enemy that respects no borders and if these extraordinary circumstances of the global health crisis are not a battle to be fought by catalyzing collective global action, leadership, and prompt global response, nothing else is.
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