Biocon Chief takes light-hearted jibe at COVID vaccination situation in India
Bangalore: A tweet by Biocon Chief, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw comparing the Indian COVID vaccination scenario to an arranged marriage, highlighting the confusion over the entire vaccination program made headlines.
In a lighter vein, Shaw, the executive chairperson of biotechnology giant Biocon, linked the two, the present Indian COVID-19 vaccination scenario and Indian arranged marriage.
Portraying the present dilemma, Shaw tweeted on Saturday, 'The vaccine situation in India is like arranged marriage. First u r not ready, then u don't like any, then u don't get any!! Those who got are unhappy thinking maybe the other one would have been better. Those who did not get any are willing to get any one,'
In addition, Shaw previously expressed worry in her tweet regarding a scarcity of COVID vaccines and questioned the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare about where the 70 million doses are being deployed every month. She also urged that the government be more transparent about their availability so that citizens could patiently wait for them.
In this regard, PTI had reported that India announced an expansion of its COVID vaccination drive by allowing its large population aged over 18 to get inoculated from May 1. Various states, including Delhi, have complained about the lack of vaccines and questioned the Centre's policy in dealing with the situation. While the vaccine manufacturers continue to produce and dispatch lots, there remains a huge gap between demand and supply of the critical medication.
Furthermore, as per Health Ministry data, the cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country has crossed the 18 crore mark. The ministry said 42,58,756 beneficiaries in the 18-45 age group have taken the first dose since the start of phase-3 of the vaccination drive against COVID-19 with 3,28,216 beneficiaries receiving their first dose in the last 24 hours.
In addition, Shaw had earlier stated in an interview with India Today that there is a need for significantly greater transparency in the way vaccines are supplied and deployed by the government.
She went on to say that the country needs a clear dashboard of vaccination accuracy, or else it'll be like a suspense movie where people don't know when or where they'll be vaccinated.
She also pointed out that India is the world's largest vaccine maker and that it is capable of producing its own vaccines. India can not argue that vaccines are unavailable.
