Finance ministry proposes 24x7 vaccination drive to revive economy

In order to revive growth and tide over the current economic woes, the finance ministry has proposed for holding 24x7 vaccination against Covid in the country for the next couple of months in order to quicken the vaccination coverage. The ministry emphasised that the aim should be to inoculate 70 crore people in the country by the end of September.

Quickening the pace and coverage of vaccination is critical to help India heal and regain the momentum of economic recovery, the the Department of Economic Affairs said in its monthly economic report. Considering that herd immunity can be achieved when 80 per cent of the population is immune or less susceptible to the infection, the report said that India needs to vaccinate 70 crore residents.

The report said that the peak in daily vaccination achieved has been at 42.65 lakh when the immunisation programme was done in one shift of 8-9 hours. "So, doubling the shifts and possibly vaccinating 24x7 for a couple of months,Finance ministry proposes 24x7 vaccination drive to revive economyparticularly in August and September when supply is expected to increase significantly—can enable the ambitious, but possible, through 1 crore shots a day."

The report said that over 216 crore of vaccine doses were expected between August and December and that the Union government was making efforts to grant fast-track approvals to vaccines from foreign manufacturers.

The ministry also pointed out that 93 lakh vaccinations are needed per day to achieve herd immunity. "So, doubling the shifts and possibly vaccinating 24x7 for a couple of months—particularly in August and September when supply is expected to increase significantly—can enable the ambitious, but possible, through 1 crore shots a day."

On Thursday, India reported its highest single-day spike of 6,148 deaths, pushing the toll to 3,59,676, while 94,052 new cases took the tally to 2,91,83,121, according to the Union health ministry's data.

The active cases have reduced to 11,67,952 comprising 4 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has improved to 94.77 per cent, it said. A net decline of 63,463 cases has been recorded in the total number of COVID-19 cases in a span of 24 hours, the data updated at 8am showed.