Undesigning the COVID-19 disaster in India
As family and friends in India experience the unfolding COVID-19 disaster, I am one of millions in the diaspora, watching from afar with mounting rage and grief. This disaster, like most disasters around the world, was entirely preventable.
We are now well acquainted with the several policy missteps, operational blind spots, and political bickering that led to India’s devastating second wave.
The path to undesigning this disaster is clear: India will need to decisively choose systemic risk governance over petty politics, community-based disaster risk management over siloed top-down directives, and people’s well-being over profit.
Even as India convenes global efforts for disaster resilience, its true test of leadership will be how disasters are prevented, and managed, at home.
In this moment of crisis, India must look to past lessons and draw on its robust disaster management capabilities to undertake structural and operational shifts to ease the worst of this crisis.
State and local governments must reinforce decentralized public health systems to ramp up community-led monitoring and decentralized tracing, testing, and isolations by tapping into local neighborhood and community networks.
Local governments must enable the work of community-based organizations and primary health care centers that can deliver essential services to the most vulnerable.
Blanket vaccination drives must not only be conducted in current hotspots, but also in adjacent regions. The virus will spread, sooner than later. Containing transmissions through targeted vaccination drives has a real chance of preventing a third wave.
When the worst of this is over, India must demand political accountability and reiterate expectations of good risk governance. In fact, this is an opportunity for disaster risk reduction researchers and practitioners worldwide to contribute independent reviews of what can be learned from this disaster. These are valuable lessons to learn from India’s case as countries around the world respond to an evolving pandemic.
We must also engage in a systematic analysis of the policy and operational barriers to vaccine equity. The United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, and others have already taken too long to waive Trade and Intellectual Property Rules (TRIPS) which can enable low- and middle-income countries to manufacture the vaccines they need. A TRIPS waiver is an ethical and pragmatic response. It will keep the whole world safe.
Even if India were to ramp up its vaccine manufacturing today, and never export another vaccine, it will still fall short of what is needed in the near term. The US and other countries with stockpiles absolutely must send vaccines to India, with urgency. In parallel, India can enable mass production of its Indigenous vaccine, Covaxin, by ramping up local manufacturing across states.
Also, vaccines need to be treated as a form of essential disaster relief. Vaccinating people during a global pandemic cannot be seen as a market opportunity. Differential and opportunistic pricing of vaccines is the greatest disincentive to achieving mass vaccination. Vaccines should be made available in-kind, especially for those who cannot afford to pay. India can tap into its PM-CARES Fund to ensure equitable access to vaccines as essential disaster relief.
Finally, we must change the narrative around this protracted disaster. The media has focused on the pain and helplessness we’re all experiencing right now. But it is important to also recognize the immense care, resourcefulness, and community-led innovations underway.
Let us amplify stories of community-led lifesaving solutions and center the experiences of people, neighborhoods, and communities who are self-organizing on social media and working marathon hours to prevent COVID-19 related deaths. There are millions of superheroes at work. Let us amplify their voices so we can learn from their experiences and prepare for what’s next.
An earlier version of this article was first posted on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6792267796681256960/
