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India’s deadly coronavirus second wave has underscored a stark digital divide determining who has better access to vaccines and healthcare, as surging caseloads expose shortfalls and overwhelm hospitals.
Onerous online procedures have turned vaccine access into an exclusionary, often lottery-like process in a country where about half the population lacks internet access.
When India opened up vaccines to all adults on 1 May, those in the 18 to 44 age group had to register through the Cowin platform – a centralised system – before they could book an appointment. For this, they need identity documents and access to a smartphone or computer with a strong internet connection. As states grapple with vaccine shortages, the online system has privileged a small fraction of elite, tech-literate city dwellers.
National Health Authority chief executive Ram Sewak Sharma told TOI that the “noise around Co-WIN” would subside as the current shortage was a temporary situation.
NEW DELHI: The demand and supply mismatch for Covid-19 vaccines remains high at 6.5:1, but has improved from 11:1 a week ago, reducing the waiting time on Co-WIN for people trying to book an appointment, National Health Authority chief executive Ram Sewak Sharma has said.
Sharma told TOI scheduling of vaccination slots was a function of availability of vaccines, and the “noise around Co-WIN” would subside as the current shortage was a temporary situation.
“The noise started surfacing particularly after registrations for the 18 to 44 age group were opened. You will be amazed to learn how steeply skewed the demand-supply for vaccines is. As supply catches up with demand, this noise around CoWIN will be put to rest, since it’s unfounded,” Sharma said.
Barbed incentives and retaliatory revenge are weakening India’s resolve to extirpate Covid.
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PM Narendra Modi during a meeting with chief ministers on COVID-19 situation in New Delhi. (Photo | PTI)
India’s power lies in diversity. The countless invasions and internecine wars over centuries coalesced cultural combinations to form our federal foundations. Calamity breeds insecurity and belligerence. India, once the world’s richest nation with a 24.4 per cent share of the world economy in 1700, has been overtaken even by Bangladesh. The humiliation apart, the national atmosphere is degenerating into intolerant and pugnacious chaos.
Confrontation has replaced consensus. Genuine disagreement is taken as affront. From politics to entertainment, a new combative Indian has emerged. He is unwilling to yield an inch to any contrary narrative. Nothing else can explain the continuous bickering between the Centre and the states over India’s disastrous
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A man from a Non-governmental organization (NGO) wearing an outfit resembling the Covid-19 coronavirus moves around a marketplace urging people to follow the safety protocols during an awareness drive held in Siliguri on April 25, 2021.
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Vaccine registrations for those aged 18-44 began on Wednesday with several after some glitches able to enrol, but unable to get appointments at hospitals for vaccination.
Though no figure was available for precisely how many in this age bracket registered, Ram Sewak Sharma, Chairman, CoWIN, told
The Hindu via a text message that “most” of the 8 million who had registered on Wednesday belonged to the 18-44 age bracket.