New Delhi (AFP)
India plans to start vaccinating its population of 1.3 billion people against Covid-19 on Saturday, a colossal task the complexity of which is exacerbated by security constraints, uncertain infrastructure and public skepticism.
The second most populous nation on the planet plans to vaccinate 300 million people, almost the equivalent of the U.S. population, by July, as part of one of the world's largest vaccination campaigns.
India is the second most affected country - after the United States - by Covid-19, with more than 10 million reported cases, even though the death rate is one of the lowest in the world.
"I can't wait to get the vaccine and live fearless and maskless all the time, last year has been very hard on us," Shatrughan Sharma, 43, a worker in New Delhi told AFP. .
The 30 million healthcare workers and those most exposed to the disease will be the first to be vaccinated, followed by around 270 million people over 50 years of age or who are highly vulnerable to the coronavirus.
The government has authorized the use of two vaccines that require continuous cold storage: Covishield developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford and Covaxin designed by Indian Bharat Biotech.
In terms of logistics, respect for the cold chain must be guaranteed by the mobilization of 29,000 temperature-controlled storage points, nearly 300 cold rooms including 70 freezing rooms, 45,000 refrigerators, 41,000 freezers and 300 energy-powered refrigerators. solar.
The world's largest vaccine manufacturer, Serum Institute of India (SII), has claimed to have already produced around 50 million doses of AstraZeneca's vaccine and plans to step up production to up to 100 million doses per month of here in March.
About 150,000 staff in 700 districts have been specially trained, while India has conducted several national preparedness exercises involving, in particular, the simulation of the transport of vaccine doses and dummy injections.
But in a country so vast and poor, with often poor road networks and one of the most poorly funded health systems in the world, the operation poses a colossal challenge.
The authorities say they will build on the experience gained during the elections and the polio and tuberculosis vaccination campaigns.
However, these campaigns represent "a much smaller exercise" recalls Satyajit Rath of the National Institute of Immunology, when the vaccination against Covid-19 is "deeply demanding".
- Field challenges -
If India has four "mega-depots" to receive vaccines and transport them to distribution centers in different states in temperature-controlled vehicles, the final step may prove to be much more difficult to master.
In a recent test exercise in rural Uttar Pradesh state - where summer temperatures exceed 40C - a health worker was observed carrying boxes of dummy vaccine ... a bicycle.
The concern also concerns the instability and reliability of communication networks while the government intends to manage the entire process thanks to digital technologies through in particular a government application, CoWIN - of which there are already several counterfeits.
More than 150,000 Indians have died from Covid-19 and the Indian economy is one of the most affected in the world, with millions of people without a livelihood.
But as in other countries, the arrival of the vaccine is arousing some skepticism fueled by a flood of disinformation online.
According to a recent survey of 18,000 people, 69% of them said they were in no rush to get vaccinated.
The fact that Covaxin has only received "limited approval", since Bharat Biotech has not provided data on phase 3 trials, fosters mistrust.
SII's plan to distribute AstraZeneca's vaccine to Indian individuals and businesses for 1,000 rupees ($ 14) also raises concerns about inequalities.
"There will be a long wait for the poor like me, the rich and the haves will be the first to be vaccinated," Suresh Paswan, a rickshaw driver in Patna, in the eastern province of Bihar, told AFP.
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