Among all the ‘rays of hope’ that emanated in form of news regarding the vaccine for Covid-19 so far, the brightest perhaps came on Wednesday with Britain announcing that it has approved the one made by Pfizer, overtaking the rest of the world in the race for the most crucial mass inoculation programme in history. With this, it can now be said that most of the decks are now cleared for Britain and from next week onwards the rollout will be taking place as per the predetermined priority of recipients. The victory, although apparently appears to be Britain’s only for the moment, in the broader context of the unstoppable pandemic, is actually for the entire humanity. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has phrased the success “fantastic” and it’s rightly so.

Back in India, just as the common people are waiting for announcement of the dates, for the medical fraternity it’s also a wait for the final blueprint of the rollout. Meanwhile, it is encouraging to notice that the state has started the warm-up exercise and as a preliminary step, the Chief Secretary has conducted a vital meeting with the principal stakeholders on Wednesday, wherein he made an assessment of the overall preparations. Many more of such high-level discussions are expected and should be carried as and when necessary with the singular objective to make sure no prospective recipient, however distant he or she resides, misses the doses. As of now, the cumulative efforts in containment of the virus must have provided insights on the strengths and weaknesses of the state. These inputs will prove handy in undertaking the approaching mammoth exercise and it’s only with a high degree of determination, the inherent infrastructural infirmities of the state such as improper roads, limited and overworked manpower and others can be surpassed. As the Central timeline of the vaccination is yet to arrive, it means the states will have some time, although practically very little, to assess the respective current actualities of the delivery mechanism. While it is highly necessary in the state to roll out effective mass-level campaigns to address the threats of disinformation, doubts, anti-vaccine and rumour mongering propagandas, if any, it will be highly effective if the CBOs, student organisations and other socially proactive bodies are taken into confidence in the process. It will be an offence if their fight against the pandemic over the last eight months or so is not acknowledged and but for their exemplary voluntary contributions, the state's COVID figures would have been much fatter. It’s time to involve them once more and on a greater scale.

Despite all the seemingly insurmountable obstacles, Arunachal has the capability to win the vaccination challenge. It’s time to believe in ourselves.

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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