#India, #Covid19, #Vaccination
India Celebrates 1 billion doses (100 crore).
On the 21st of October, 2021, India celebrated – with full glory the inoculation of 1 billion doses into its population. This expedited vaccination effort is allowing the entire country to country to celebrate Diwali with an economic bounce back and a return to pre-pandemic levels for 90% of industries. These vaccination efforts however didn't happen in just a day. India is a leader when it comes to pharmaceutical production and vaccination and hence we must have an in-depth analysis to really comprehend as to how India got here and why it is important to keep going – doubling vaccination coverage and expanding the scope of economic revival. Please note that this article is part of the series #Vaccination. At the time of publishing of this article, I am tracking economic and vaccine developments in order to curate an article on why India is becoming a new leader for the vaccination efforts.
Throughout the course of this article, we will take a deep dive into how India got here, why we need to keep going, and why we are having an expedited economic bounce back.
We will talk about the following in Part 1 of this article:
The direct and in-direct effects of Covid-19 mass vaccination
Taking a look at the vaccine disparity issue
In the next article, Part 2, I hope to take a deep dive into the following:
Why India is a leader with regard to vaccination
How did India vaccinate so many people for free
Campaigns which encourage good vaccination.
Vaccination is not just helping in reducing Covid-19
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's efforts to vaccinate the entire eligible adult population of India by the start of 2022 is having a chain reaction on confidence; confidence of Individuals with regard to covid, confidence of opening up, and confidence of people for an economic bounce-back.
The vaccination effect has several indirect effects apart from being effective in reducing the mortality rate for Covid-19. It has kicked off a bunch of chain reactions which aren't, in my opinion, talked about enough.
Economic revival.
The Indian economy is being revived, slowly that is. This is being driven by mass vaccination efforts by the Central and State governments. Economic revival is largely evident in the hospitality sector.
According to livemint, a gradual uptick in the aviation, though not enough to be equated to pre-pandemic levels is taking place – likely because of vaccination. The Union Minister for Civil Aviation, Jyotiraditya Scindia, said in a tweet:
Touching a new high one after another, we are gradually moving towards pre Covid-level air traffic. Onwards & upwards here on. ~Jyotiraditya Scindia
The revival of the hospitality and aviation sector can be equated to the resiliency post the second wave of the Pandemic and also the vaccination efforts conducted. If you look for good hotels near you right now – it is likely that they are totally sold out. This can be attributed to the fact that individuals are likely to enjoy the festive season by taking long breaks, staying at hotels, eating out, and visiting retail locations. Furthermore, this economic revival can also reflect the mood of the consumers for the future. I will tell you more about this at the end of this point.
The re-opening of malls for fully vaccinated individuals and minors under the age of 18 in Maharastra signifies a light at the end of the tunnel for the retail sector which is mulling pre-pandemic earnings soon. As Diwali nears, the willingness for spending in people will increase and hence the retail sector is likely to have a phased revival.
An analysis of the Mark to Market (mint) revealed that due to global supply constraints, a lot of sectors such as the automobile ones will face troubles to be revived. Even though the festival season is on in full swing, automakers had to slash production as they faced critical supply issues. Even a massive company like apple is facing chip shortages which are pushing them to halt production of their several flag ship products, cancel them, postpone them, or even not release them.
To conclude the Indian Economy is being revived – especially the aviation, retail, and hospitality sectors which are facing a staggered revival which is largely driven by mass vaccination efforts.
Extension:- Read for more knowledge on supply chain issues.
Okay, a lot of readers are likely to be wondering on what exactly I mean when I talk about supply chain issues.
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The goal of thedailydosage.in is to provide simplified information, information which is easy to access and is good at explaining. Therefore, if you are enjoying reading this article, kindly subscribe to our mailing list in order to get notified whenever we post! I will remind you again at the end with the link to subscribe. Okay, now let's take a brief look into supply chain issues.
When the pandemic first hit in 2020, customer demand tumbled causing less demand. And as we learnt in previous article like the "Gamestonk" one, whenever there is little demand and a lot of supply – prices will drop down. And when there is an abundance, suppliers tend to dial down, sometimes drastically, production to have an active response to demand. As the pandemic hit in 2020, and the ripples in the form of second, third, fourth waves hit, factories had to open, shut, open, shut, open, shut for a long time, then reopen again with unreasonable covid protocols and low demand. It is this which affected supply chains for huge companies – essential parts of larger devices such as processors for phone – even the components which are required to make the processors were in short supply. It is not unlikely that the items you see sold out are because of supply issues and not demand.
As we kick-off the festive season – prices for certain items are likely to sky rocket due to the laws of supply and demand. Less supply, and more demand will allow manufactures to increase prices which will have a direct impact on customer expenditure. The supply chain crises (multiple of them) will also have an effect on inflation rates which will reduce the willingness to buy for many individuals.
You can already see this working in the tech world with regard to earphones. Prices of the nothing ear (1), a newly launched pair of earphones had to be bumped up to adjust for supply issues. In separate cases, smartphones have become increasingly expensive because of supply issues.
2. Confidence.
I am not speaking for everyone here but this is just how I feel. I feel that I have reduced keeping in mind covid protocols just cause my parents are vaccinated. This happens even though I am not vaccinated which is, well, funny. I believe that vaccination has increased my confidence to go down, and now even take the huge risk to go to school. Vaccination has played a significant role in the scale of how afraid I am of covid. I am not scared to step out now. I am not scared to meet people.
However, even though I have become a little bit more lax, I keep reminding myself to wear a face mask, and sanitise my hands whenever I see a tool to do so.
Also, the opening up of everything due to vaccination has an overall good effect on mental health.
Are you also becoming more confident? Let me know.
Prime Minister Modi takes up issue of vaccine disparity.
Authorities are scrambling to fix vaccine disparity issues. India on the global scale is amplifying the voices of several developing countries by speaking about Intellectual Property rights for vaccines and why they must be removed, and amplifying the plea of several developing countries which don't have vaccines.
However, I am talking about a more hyperlocal situation, a situation where some Indian states have more supply of vaccines whereas some have less supply. Some states have higher rates of vaccination whereas others have lesser rates.
I will be taking into account data from google's results when you google "India Vaccination overview". You can find a screenshot of the data based on information available at the time of writing this article or by clicking on this link to find updated information.
Click here to get official data on vaccinations
As of now, it is estimated that 35% of individuals have been fully vaccinated against covid-19 and this is the important information you are looking for here. People vaccinated with one dose are estimated to be around 75%. This data will change as time goes on but I updated it on the 4th of November, the date this article is being published on.
According to this article published in the fortune, an estimated 100 million Indians have skipped taking the second dose of Covid-19. It is likely that the majority of these individuals who skipped the second shot were confused or unaware of whether they had to take the second dose of the vaccine or when to take it.
Public health campaigns which are targeted to individuals who haven't taken the first shot should work in an effective manner in order to guide Indian citizens with information to take the second shot.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi held meetings to take stock of vaccine disparity with regard to inoculation with district authorities in order to develop a roadmap for vaccination of districts with less than 50% vaccine coverage. As PM Modi is more involved in the vaccination effort as compared to the rest of the leaders, and is regarded as an important father figure in India, he plays a pivotal role in guiding Indians to get vaccinated. Authorities are rushing to kick off door to door vaccination which will work with regard to informing individuals about when they need to get their second dose. This will also be effective in laying down a framework for future vaccination efforts for the proposed booster shots.
For further reading: (Extension)
Statement by Civil Aviation ministry: https://www.livemint.com/news/india/domestic-air-traffic-gradually-moving-towards-pre-covid-level-jyotiraditya-scindia-11635694995854.html
Comprehending supply shortages and why they will have consequences on the Indian Economy (mint to market):
Read more in this opinion piece in the mint on hiccups with vaccination: https://www.livemint.com/opinion/columns/maximize-jab-coverage-through-vax-planning-and-not-brute-force-11635958493015.html
PM Modi's proposed solution:
India's second dose rate is low: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/what-indias-100-crore-vaccinations-milestone-does-not-tell-you/articleshow/87135428.cms
Fortune article on the same:https://fortune.com/2021/11/02/india-covid-vaccine-covishield-skip-second-dose-third-wave-cases/
Bottom Line
Vaccination kick off a chain reaction of good things both directly & indirectly.
India has reached a milestone with regard to vaccination. However, there is a long way to go. A long way to go for responsible Indians.
I would like to end this article on a positive note by thanking everyone included in the vaccination process. The health care workers, the frontline workers who inoculated those shots, the manufacturers of the vaccine, suppliers to them, airlines who transported this cargo, the truck drivers, and local health authorities – in my case the BMC, and of course, you the person who got vaccinated.
I would like to include a special thanks as us children (under 18) are not yet eligible to receive the vaccine. I extend my thank you as you have enabled us to have a safer environment for us to resume our pre-pandemic activities.
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Written by Neil Sudhalkar
Email ID: neilsudhalkar@thedailydosage.in
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