What are things that India should keep in mind as top priority as it embarks on the biggest vaccination drive against COVID-19?

India will short embark on the biggest vaccination drive in its history as it starts to inoculate nearly 30 crore Indians in a short span of time. The first priority will be the doctors, nurses and the healthcare workers who are in the frontline of the battle against COVID. in next few days, the biggest challenge will be it needs successful models on distribution.

Israel is a country that has been long friendly with the Indian government and the one lesson India must carry from them must be the COVID vaccine distribution. Apparently, Israel managed to inoculate 15% of its population of 9.3 million in just two weeks. Of course, the population challenge is much bigger in India, but models are models all the same.

To begin with, Israel paid a premium to get the vaccines early; a price of $30/dose to Pfizer compared to $15 in the market. However, that was only part of the story. Israel also managed to digitize the distribution of vaccines and stretched the supply chains to the maximum. On the supply side, Israel also promised the pharma companies quick rollout.

There are some natural advantages that Israel already enjoys. The universal healthcare system and digitized patient data enabled digital distribution. In addition, Israel has also tied up with Moderna for additional supplies of vaccines. More than the price, it is the urgency and planning that is a template that India could emulate or take a cue.

Let us remember that Israel has done this to Pfizer/BionTech vaccine which requires -75 degrees temperature storage. India does not have to worry about that. The big challenge for India to use the last mile effectively so as to reach out the health centres dispensing vaccines in the shortest and most efficient manner.