With COVID vaccination drive about to kick off in a phased manner in the country shortly from now, the Union Health Ministry on Friday released an important piece of document that has aimed to answer a host of citizens’ queries on the subject. While a total of 21 questions that most of the prospective recipients of the vaccine among the ‘General Public’ segment wanting to know have been answered, the most important takeaway is the advice that it’s equally important also for those who have recovered from Covid-19 to be vaccinated. This implies that almost the whole of the population, technically, is eligible for vaccination and as such it’s going to be an extensive procedure.

Question 6 of the document titled ‘Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on COVID-19 Vaccine’ which asks if it’s necessary for a COVID recovered person to take the vaccine answers that it’s advisable to receive the complete doses irrespective of past history of COVID infection to help in developing a strong immune response. If this is a very useful piece of information for all Covid conquerors, those currently suffering, either confirmed or suspected, have been assured (As answer to Question 5) that they can also take the shots, but only after a time gap of 14-days when all symptoms have effaced. Throwing light on the number of shots needed to complete the vaccination procedure, the FAQs said it will be two in total with a gap of 4 weeks. Meanwhile, the Union Health Minister on Saturday informed that vaccinating 30 crore people in Phase I (1 crore healthcare + 2 crore frontline workers + around 26 crore common citizens under 50-60-year age group and those less than 50 with comorbidities) will take 6-7 months. Coming to the country’s current COVID figures, although the grim milestone of 100 lakh cases has been reached, the bright ray of hope is that full recoveries are more than 95 lakh. Viewing this updated development in particular and the country’s overall COVID picture in the light of the Health Ministry’s FAQs, a reasonable inference can be drawn that the challenge now is to vaccinate as many number of people within the shortest period of time. If the current vaccination timeline is taken to be final, evidently, more than 70 % of the population will have no alternative but to wait at least for 6 months, which otherwise means no respite from the chances of getting infected.

Central government must accept the challenge and redraw strategies with the chief motto of covering the maximum percentage of population within the quickest possible time. As winning against COVID is a matter of immense national importance, additional efforts and resources to outweigh the time factor must be pressed into service on war footing.