The special webinar, hosted by the Asia News Network, in collaboration with DataLEADS and The Statesman, was moderated by Pana Janviroj, Executive Director of ANN, and Akanksha Rathor of The Statesman.

India is riding on a very good system for mass vaccination, according to Dr. Roderico Ofrin, WHO representative to India. Talking at a special webinar on “India’s vaccines and vaccination: Mission Possible”, Dr Ofrin said it was meticulous planning down to the last detail that is behind the success of its mass vaccination program. Taking the example of Bihar he said, “Bihar had a series of micro-plans down to the last house– a plan is set by district immunization officers, for several districts, several blocks – down to the block level. That is how it has panned out. It is reviewed regularly.”

The special webinar, hosted by the Asia News Network- one of the biggest media networks in the world where the network members reach more than 40 million readers every day — in collaboration with DataLEADS and The Statesman, was moderated by Pana Janviroj, Executive Director of ANN, and Akanksha Rathor of The Statesman. Apart from Dr Ofrin, the speakers were Pratyaya Amrit, Additional Chief Secretary Health Department, Government of Bihar and Syed Nazakat, Founder and CEO of DataLEADS.

Crediting the political leadership and a committed bureaucracy for the success of the vaccination program, Mr Amrit said, “For any reform to succeed, we have always believed in two aspects. One the vision of the political leadership and second, the implementation by a committed bureaucracy. This vaccination campaign –if you see it at the provincial level, or the central level, it is being led by the political leaders, and it is being implemented very effectively by the administrative officers, along with their team.”

There were clearly challenges along the way, and one of them was the deluge of misinformation surrounding the vaccines. Mr Nazakat said, “Our challenge still remains fighting misinformation, rumours, unscientific claims about the nature of the virus and about the vaccine itself. We saw rumours that pregnant women cannot take vaccines. There were content that said if you take vaccine it would cause infertility, and people were not going for it.”

Despite the surge in vaccination numbers, is India still living under the fear of a third wave of infections in the country? According to Mr Amrit, the country is better prepared. He said, “Now having seen the two waves, we have our preparations – our hospitals have the gas pipelines, we have the oxygen cylinders in place, we have these plants installed, this pandemic has taught the world that health infrastructure is one area, which needs a lot of investment, and a lot of commitment.”

All the speakers agreed that whether the threat of third wave materializes or not, everyone will have to follow Covid-appropriate behaviour till the threat is completely nullified and the virus is conquered. Mr Amrit said, “A time has come where we have to learn to live with corona. We should never lower our guards. We have to test, track, treat, Covid appropriate behaviour and vaccines. These are five strategies of India. We have not opened up early – it is a well thought out decision. We are gearing up for any eventuality.”

Answering a question on whether there would be a need for a third booster shot of the Covid vaccine, Dr. Ofrin said the second dose in the current prescribed vaccination regimen is already a booster dose. He said that there is no definite answer to this yet, but Covid-appropriate behaviour can do away with the need of a third booster shot. He warned that dropping our guard could mean a variant developing somewhere in the world, which could put the rest of the world at risk too. He concluded by saying, “The statement that no one is safe, till everyone is safe is right.”