Another 15 Months for Total Vaccination in India: RBI

Public on: 05-May-2021 Views 2074

Another 15 Months for Total Vaccination in India: RBI

Governor of India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India, has said that it may take until the second half of 2022 for completion of vaccination drive in India. Mr Shaktikant  Das was announcing the latest credit policy, interest rates and economic outlook for the country. India was “advantageously poised” at “the foothills of a strong recovery” he added in a statement, adding that the “situation has altered drastically” and the “fresh crisis is still unfolding”.

Announcing emergency measures for Rs 50000 of extra liquidity in the system, the Governor hoped that India’s resilience will overcome the crisis in due course. Quoting International Monetary Fund assumptions, he added that the vaccines will be available in the Advanced Countries and some Emerging Market Economies by summer of 2021, but in “most other countries” the availability will be in the second half of 2022.

This leaves Indians, battling with a devastating second surge of the virus, to wait for another 15 months to vaccinate its large population. With total cases crossing 20 million in India and more than 200000 deaths the country’s only hope was a fast-paced vaccination drive which has been hampered by unpreparedness and mismanagement between the manufacturers and the procuring agencies of the government. India is thus looking at not one but two summers of discontent and deaths.

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