Is Covid-19 vaccine mandatory in India?

New Delhi, May 06: As eligibility for Covid vaccines expands to people 18 years and older, the call for mandatory vaccination started as soon as the jabs became available.

But even though some countries have made a lot of progress in their vaccination campaigns, others have just started, and this highlights how the road to achieving global herd immunity to Covid-19 is still too far.

India has been badly hit by the second wave of coronavirus infections even as hospitals in several states are reeling under a severe shortage of vaccines, oxygen, drugs, equipment and beds.

Recommendations from experts for a nationwide lockdown have been ignored. Citizens are angry, frustrated, and discouraged as they see no clear plan of action to manage the pandemic.

If a lockdown may not be a feasible option for economically stressed India. So the way to go is mandatory, not voluntary, vaccination, proceeding along the cline of vulnerability till universal coverage is attained.

Both the government and the people need to set their priorities right.

The Indian Medical Association has actually recommended linking vaccine certificates to the public distribution system.

New coronavirus cases and deaths in India hit a record daily high with 4,12,262 new infections and 3,980 fatalities being reported, taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 2,10,77,410 and the death toll to 2,30,168, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday.

Registering a steady increase, the active cases have increased to 35,66,398 comprising 16.92 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has dropped to 81.99 per cent, the data updated at 8 am showed.