Jab purchasing must be centralized: Lancet

The recommendations published in the Lancet journal focus on the immediate steps central and state governments must take to help reduce the loss of life and suffering caused by covid-19 amid the recent increase in cases.

This approach would optimize prices and minimize the inequalities between states that can result from differential fiscal and capacity contexts. The authors noted that as of May 19, 2021, only 3% of India’s population was fully vaccinated. And up to 250 million doses of covid-19 vaccine are estimated to be needed each month to equip vaccination campaigns at full capacity when the country only has about 70 to 80 million doses per month, it said. the Commission.

“State governments need to decide on evidence-based priority groups for immunization in order to optimize the use of available vaccine doses, which can be gradually increased as supplies improve. Vaccination is a public good and should not be left to market mechanisms, ”notes the document.

In addition to the distribution of vaccines, the recommendations also cover a wide range of actions to be taken to manage the situation: first, the organization and financing of essential health services should be decentralized to the districts; second, there must be a transparent national pricing policy and price caps for all essential health services.

Third, clear and factual information on the management of covid-19 should be widely disseminated, including advice on what not to do. Fourth, all available human resources, including the private sector, must be mobilized for the response to covid-19 and must have adequate resources and support; fifth, on the central systems for purchasing and distributing free anti-covid-19 vaccines as mentioned above.

The sixth recommendation is: community engagement and public participation should be at the core of India’s response to covid-19, with no restrictions on civil society organizations to access resources; seventh, there must be transparency and sharing of government data to enable districts to proactively prepare for the likely workload in the coming weeks, and oversight must include urgent investments in genomic sequencing.

Finally, the deep suffering and health risks caused by the loss of livelihoods should be minimized by providing cash transfers by the state to workers in India’s large informal economy who have lost their jobs and by forcing companies not to lay off their workers.

“Covid -19 is the most serious crisis independent India has faced as the virus makes its way into rural areas where 65% of India lives. We need to allow the innate resilience of our country to kick in and hope that these eight steps will go a long way in providing this support, ”said Poonam Muttreja, Executive Director of the Population Foundation of India, New Delhi.