New Delhi: By administering over one billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines against multiple challenges and varied odds, India has surprised the world and set an example of great planning and its execution with all perfection worth emulating for all, said senior bureaucrats and experts during an international webinar on ‘India’s 1 Billion Vax Success: PM’s Vision and Steely Resolve of Bureaucracy’ organized by Bureaucrats India on Friday evening.

“India’s vaccination journey has been extraordinary and an epitome of power of Aatma Nirbhar Bharat. While the entire India celebrated the feat of vaccine century, not many are aware of countless hours of work, thousands of sleepless nights, numerous long meetings, and endless coordination to ensure vaccines reach centres on time, cajoling and convincing that went into logging a great success,” said Dr Navneet Anand, Editor-In-Chief, Bureaucrats India, in his introductory remark.

Lauding the co-ordinated efforts from all stakeholders in carrying out the vaccination drive, Padma Shri awardee Dr Sanjeev Bagai, also chairman of Nephron Clinic and former Vice Chairman of Manipal Hospital Dwarka, New Delhi, said that India executed the world’s fastest and safest vaccination drive with immaculate finesse. He also lauded the versatility of Indian scientists in making vaccines by following the best of protocols.

“This has been possible simply because of the firm leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who reached out to almost every stakeholder,” he said, adding how he kept the morale of the nation high through eleven addresses. He, however, said that one must not lower his guard though we are heading towards the end of the crisis.

Dr Tinglong Dai, Professor at Johns Hopkins University, USA, said while sharing his thoughts about how Covid-19 crisis unfolded across the world: “What you have been able to achieve (in terms of vaccination) has been incredible and remarkable. The vaccination drive in India despite all the difficulties is a medical miracle and an incredible move. A tremendous success,” Dr Dai also reflected upon the way people responded to Covid-19 situations globally.

In a special intervention, Dr Dai lauded the involvement of the community in carrying out vaccination drives in India which is the key to making such exercises successful. He also gave the example of the US where community involvement is facilitated through different means. Dr Dai admitted that local leaders and transparent approach make a difference in ensuring success of mass inoculation drive.                       

IAS officer Dr Mrinlaini Darswal, IAS, who is currently pursuing her PhD at Harvard, said that administering over one billion doses is not a mean achievement. She also lauded the efforts of health workers who worked at the grassroots level. “We are getting global accolades because we used our own talents in dealing with the pandemic. We manufactured our own vaccine. It was simply stupendous,” said Dr Darswal.

Complimenting the Odisha Model of COVID management she said, "Under the leadership of CM Naveen Patnaik & 5T Secretary Odisha has dealt with the pandemic meticulously. It is one of the states with least number of casualties. What's remarkable is the all the healthcare services were provided to people free of cost, even private hospitals charged little for COVID19 treatment. 

However, she cautioned that we all need to be careful. “We must wear masks and avoid crowded places. Every Indian must be very vigilant,” said Dr Darswal, while lauding Prime Minister Modi for his leadership approach in handling Covid-19 crisis. “With the support of our Prime Minister, Indian pharmaceutical agencies are leading tremendously in preparing Covid-19 pills. Together we can and we will come back on the roads of normalcy and lead globally as a nation,” she said.

Sharing his thoughts, Dr Lakshmanan S, IAS, and Mission Director, National Health Mission (NHM), Assam, said the bureaucracy faced a variety of odds and challenges but they did a great job with the help of all stakeholders including Covid-19 warriors. “Thanks to concerted efforts at all levels, India has been able to achieve a rare feat.”                 

Dr Thiyagarajan SM, IAS, District Magistrate, Darbhanga, Bihar, said that the scale of pandemic was such that everything was inadequate to cope with the challenge. “As a result, vaccination was our top priority. There were floods in Darbhanga. Despite that today we have been able to administer first dose of vaccine to 72 per cent people and two doses to 42 per cent people in Darbhanga district.”

Reflecting further, Dr Thiyagarajan said that they adopted hands on strategy and used social media platforms to reach out to the people. The Covid portal proved quite useful. Once we were able to convince the people to get inoculated, the vaccination drive picked up, he said, adding that they went on a door to door survey to ensure the momentum of vaccination remains intact.

District Magistrate of Khunti, Jharkhand, Shashi Ranjan said that they faced a huge task in convincing the tribal people for vaccination but through community mobilization involving teachers, self-help groups, village heads and Sarpanches. “With due diligence and consistent cajoling, we were able to break the hesitancy. Finally, the vaccination rolled out.” He also shared how the misinformation campaign was posing another kind of challenge to vaccination drive!

Shyamal Santra, State Program Manager, TRIF, commended the wholesome approach which was adopted by all stakeholders in carrying out the vaccination drive. “When we are celebrating one billion doses, this has only happened due to three pillars – commitment, collaboration, and coordination!”

“Initially, people had a lot of questions. Later on, there was chaos as everyone wanted to be vaccinated. However, things fell in line thanks to leadership of Prime Minister Modi and local youth who played a key role in mobilizing people to go for vaccination,” said Santra

Dr Ravi Mittal, IAS, CEO, District Council, Raigarh, said that his district has achieved 100 per cent double-dose vaccination for which he credited local influencers and leaders for taking the vaccination drive to every door and getting them vaccinated. “They did create a positive narrative about vaccination, which helped us to contain rumour mongering,” Dr Mittal, adding how he put in place a robust monitoring mechanism to ensure that no one is left out from the vaccination. /BI/