What next for vaccines?

Budget numbers suggest govt reducing the scale

In her speech to Parliament while presenting the Union Budget for 2022-23, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman twice highlighted the success of the Indian vaccination programme. First, she noted that the “speed and coverage of our vaccination campaign has helped greatly” in what she described as the “overall sharp rebound and recovery” of the Indian economy. Second, she noted that the “speedy implementation of the vaccination programme” was one of the positive outcomes of the last Budget. In this context, it might be worthwhile to examine more closely the budgetary allocations for the vaccination programme, and what it implies about