COVID Vaccination does not give full protection against infection. However, vaccination can reduce the severity of the infection and the need for hospitalization. Given today’s context in India, this will significantly reduce the burden on the hospitals. The Catholic Health Association of India (CHAI) with its members is already playing a significant role in the war against the second wave, both by caring for the COVID patients and also being part of the vaccination drive.
Now that the eligibility has been expanded to include all persons above 18 years of age, this will bring in more active vaccine seekers. We have about 800 million people in that category. Half of them may be motivated to take vaccine of their own. The remaining half, 400 million, may need some persuasion. We presume that at least 200 million of these vaccine eligible people may prefer a CHAI hospital to take vaccination due to trust, affordability, and other factors. The Catholic Health Association of India, with its vast network of about 3500 member institutions, along with several other collaborators, is working on an ambitious plan. To begin with, we would like to reach at least a few million people with the COVID vaccine, at the earliest.
We have put together a multifaceted team to design and roll out ‘VACCINET’, our vaccine campaign. ‘VACCINET’ represents the Vaccine, the CHAI network and its collaborators, a safety net against COVID, and could be also read as vaccinate. ‘VACCINET’ includes the following elements.
- Signing up partners for demand generation through promotion activities
- Signing up supply chain partners to negotiate adequate supply and better prices
- Raise funds to support vaccinations free or at a subsidized cost for those who cannot afford
- Roll-out promotional activities across multiple channels
- Sign up hospitals that want to be part of this campaign and support them
Please contribute to VacciNet with your time, talents and other resources. Visit the website for more details.
vaccinet.life
