How fast can vaccines solve India's COVID-19 crisis? It's complicated.
All adults will be eligible for shots beginning tomorrow. But supplies are limited, and experts fear the poor will be left out.
CHENNAIIt’s 9 a.m. local time, and the security guard at a primary health center in Chennai, a major city in south India, is turning away people at the gate. Most have come to get their second shot of Covaxin, one of two COVID-19 vaccines currently available in India that both require two doses. Some hold up their phones and say they’ve got an appointment from the government vaccine app. But the guard tells them they’re too late. A case of vials enough for only a hundred shots had arrived earlier in the morning. “People were waiting from 6 a.m.,” he says. “It’s over.”
In addition, the government deregulated vaccine procurement and pricing in a move that experts say could lead to