Big steps forward

New authorisations should boost India's fight against Covid

The Omicron variant, which may well be now circulating in India, given the sharp increase in positivity rates in many parts of the country, has shaken up the government’s approach to the vaccination programme. The authorities seemed to have been content to let the roll-out happen on autopilot rather than being proactive. That is clearly no longer an option—though ideally it should never have been. On the heels of the announcement that a booster dose would become available to sections of the population and that those between the ages of 15 and 18 would also become eligible for vaccines came