India Coronavirus Dispatch: Pandemic fails to deter Kumbh Mela pilgrims

Risks of postponing polio drive, vaccine consignments reach many cities, Delhi civic workers threaten to boycott vaccine drive duties-news relevant to India's fight against Covid-19

Pandemic fails to deter Kumbh Mela pilgrims

The pandemic has not deterred scores of Hindu pilgrims from descending on River Ganga's banks for the annual Kumbh Mela, according to a report in Aljazeera. 

India has the second-most severe outbreak with over 150,000 fatalities. But this has not stopped pilgrims from celebrating the religious festival in Uttarakhand's Haridwar. Festival organiser Siddharth Chakrapani, who expected nearly a million people on Thursday alone, told Aljazeera that the pandemic was a worry, but that precautions were being taken. On Wednesday, the banks of the river were chock-a-block with people who were seemingly oblivious to the pandemic, the report said. When life is returning to normal, a second wave of coronavirus may hit, experts have warned. This week, the Gangasagar festival in Kolkata is expected to attract 15,000 people, and Tamil Nadu's Madurai is due to host the bull-chasing carnival Jallikattu. Read more here

Delhi civic workers threaten to boycott vaccination drive duties 

Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) workers have threatened to not show up for the vaccination drive set to begin in a few days if their salaries are not paid, according to a report in ThePrint.

A P Khan, convener, Confederation of MCD Employees Union told ThePrint that about 22,000 workers received rosters for the upcoming drive but they were set to boycott it and their salaries have not been paid for months. Read more here

OPINION: People’s confidence key for a successful roll-out

Amid controversies around the safety and efficacy of the vaccines approved by the central government, the confidence of the people in the inoculants will be key to a successful vaccination drive, former union health secretary K Sujatha Rao said in an opinion piece for The Indian Express.

Lack of transparency around vaccine trial data, the haste in approving the vaccines, and the opacity around the licenses granted have deepened suspicions. This has been worsened by caveats and conditions, a strident defence by the ruling party to stifle healthy conversation, and attempts to politicise the discourse of media channels, the opinion piece said.

The worst outcome will be the denting of India's reputation in the international community. A solution can be to establish a team of independent experts under the aegis of the WHO to ensure adherence to recruitment standards, consent conditions, adverse event record management, compensation standards, and so on. This will create confidence in the community and international authorities as well, the opinion piece said.

Postponing the polio immunisation drive poses a risk: Top virologist

The union government has postponed the national polio immunisation drive that was scheduled to begin from January 17. Top virologist Dr T Jacob John, the man behind the “pulse polio” campaign spoke to the Scroll about the potential risks.

The country is free from polio but the disease still persists in some countries. Therefore, there is a possibility that it may come back. This is why children under 5 years of age are still administered polio drops. If the polio drive is skipped, the risk is the development of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 1. Postponing the drive to February or March may be sufficient, but, even that poses a small risk, John told the Scroll. Read more here

Stage set as vaccine consignments reach cities across the country

With India set to begin vaccinating its health workers on Saturday, the stage has been set with vaccines being transported to various parts of the country from Kerala to Kashmir and Assam to Goa, this report in The Indian Express explains. At least the first consignment of vaccines have left Serum Institute of India's manufacturing facility in Pune and also from Hyderbad's Bharat Biotech. Ganavaram, Guwahati, Patna, Delhi, Kurukshetra, Bangalore, Pune, Bhubaneswar, Jaipur, Chennai, and Lucknow are some of the cities Bharat Biotech's vaccine has reached. As many as 30 million healthcare workers are first in line to get the vaccine. The government has said the vaccine recipients will not have a choice between the two vaccines, at least for now. Read more here