India saved over 3.4 million lives by undertaking nationwide Covid-19 vaccination campaign: Report

India was able to save more than 34 million lives by undertaking a nationwide Covid19 vaccination campaign at an unprecedented scale said a report by Stanford UniversityThe Covid vaccination campaign also yielded a positive economic impact by preventing a loss of USD 183 billion the working paper by Stanford University and Institute for Competitiveness titled Healing the Economy Estimating the Economic Impact on Indias vaccination and related issues released by Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Friday saidMandaviya said much before Covid19 was declared a public health emergency by the World Health Organization WHO in January 2020 processes and structures to focus dedicatedly on various facets of the pandemic management were put in placeHe virtually addressed the The India Dialog session on the Economic Impact of Vaccination and Related MattersIndia under the leadership of honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji adopted a Whole of Government and Whole of Society approach in a proactive preemptive and graded manner thus adopting a holistic response strategy for effective management of Covid19 the minister saidThe dialog was organised by Institute for Competitiveness and USAsia Technology Management Center Stanford UniversityThe paper discusses the role of containment as a measure to prevent the spread of the virus It highlights that as against the topdown approach a bottomup approach was critical in containing the virusMoreover the report remarkably notes that robust measures at the ground level like contact tracing mass testing home quarantine distribution of essential medical equipment revamping healthcare infrastructure and constant coordination among stakeholders at the centre state and district levels not only helped contain the spread of the virus but also in augmenting the health infrastructureIt elaborates the three cornerstones of Indias strategy containment relief package and vaccine administrationIt observes that these three measures were critical in saving lives and ensuring economic activity by containing the spread of Covid19 sustaining livelihoods and developing immunity against the virusThe working paper further notes that India was able to save more than 34 million lives by undertaking the nationwide vaccination campaign at an unprecedented scaleIt said the vaccination campaign was always on saving lives However the campaign also yielded a positive economic impact by preventing the loss of USD 183 billion it addedA net benefit of USD 1542 billion occurred for the nation after taking into consideration the cost of the vaccination campaign the report saidHailing the decision of early lockdown by the prime minister as a significant turning point Mandaviya said it enabled the government to leverage community response in its fivepronged strategy namely Test Track Treat Vaccination Adherence for implementing Covid Appropriate Behaviour CAB and delivering a rapid and robust institutional response to combat Covid19Also Read Taking collective call on Congress Working Committee polls Mallikarjun KhargeHe said that the government focused on augmenting health infrastructure in terms of Covidrelated beds drugs logistics ie N95 masks PPE kits and medical oxygen simultaneously upskilling human resources though Centres of Excellences and deploying digital solutions such as eSanjeevani Telemedicine service Aarogya Setu Covid19 India Portal etcEqual weightage was given to scaling up the testing infrastructure at an unprecedented rate exceeding the superlative figure 9178 million tests conductedAdditionally a network of 52 labs for genomic surveillance was established for monitoring emerging variants of the virus he addedThe Health minister stated that building on this momentum India launched the worlds biggest vaccination drive garnering a coverage of 97 per cent first dosage and 90 per cent of the second dosage administering 22 billion dosages in all for eligible beneficiariesThe drive focused on equitable coverage for all hence vaccines were provided free of cost to all citizens he addedCampaigns and digital tools such as Har Ghar Dastak mobile vaccination teams as well as the inception of CoWin vaccine management platform were leveraged to ensure lastmile delivery Mandaviya saidA defining factor in the success of pandemic management was allaying fears managing misinformation and infodemic in the community through targeted Information education and communication he saidThe Stanford University report reflected that the benefits of vaccination exceeded its cost and suggested that vaccination be considered a macroeconomic stabilising indicator contrary to just a health interventionThe cumulative lifetime earnings of the lives saved through vaccination in the working age group tolled up to USD 215 billion it saidThe report said The development of vaccines COVAXIN and Covishield helped fight the country the pernicious attack of the virus and not only inoculate a large number of people but also decrease the burden on healthcare systemMandaviya said the relief package by the government for people catered to the welfare needs of the vulnerable groups oldage population farmers micro small and medium enterprises MSMEs women entrepreneurs among others and also ensured support for their livelihoodsWith the help of schemes launched to support the MSME sector 1028 million MSMEs were provided assistance resulting in an economic impact of USD 10026 billion which comes out to be about 49037 of the GDP he further saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever