In a country like India, where the population changes from state to state, city to city, and even neighborhood to neighborhood, a highly decentralized approach is needed where local governments can decide how people are vaccinated with appropriate precautions said Biocon chairman Kiran Mazumdar Shaw.
She spoke as a guest speaker at a webinar organized by GITAM Deemed to be University here on Sunday.
She noted that the current vaccination program in the country created a lot of confusion and mismanagement. She said industrial worker migration and elections are the main drivers of the current situation.
“We need to focus more on taxi drivers, construction workers and food suppliers for vaccinations or they could become super spreaders,” she added.
“Focus on technology transfer”
While talking about intellectual property rights (IPR) in vaccines, she said that instead of IPR, we need to focus on technology transfer. She said that making vaccines is not easy and it is a technology that will take 8 to 9 months to establish. The country needs effective supply chain management and a token system for successful vaccination. She said parents need to get vaccines instead of vaccinating children to protect the family.
She observed that people with obesity and diabetes are more prone to the current situation.
She said all vaccines are potentially good and data analysis will prove their longevity.
GITAM’s Director of Strategic Programs, Nidhi Razdan, moderated the event.