Having got into this position, we now only have 3 options before us. None are easy.
Option 1: We say it will take time to fix the crisis, carry on with the steps that are being taken and hope that the second wave will die out on its own. Risk - tens of thousands could die (1/n)

Option 2: We accept the growing demand from the medical community for a nationwide lockdown to break the chain. Risk - economic havoc, and an awful burden on small industries and the poor. (2/n)

Option 3: If neither of the above is acceptable, then the ONLY other alternative is to somehow find a way to mass vaccinate 40% of the population within a couple of months.
*Spend whatever it takes.
*Get industry into a room and ask how they can accelerate production (3/n)

*Sublicense production from those who hold the rights
*Pay advance money to vaccine producers to build their plants in half the time by working24/7
*Ask India's fabled pharma companies to help
*Import. From wherever possible
*Work out the logistics of 8 million shots a day (4/n)

Is Option 3 easy? No.
Should we have ordered doses 6 months ago? Yes.
But if we don't want lakhs of deaths, and we don't want another nationwide lockdown, then there is no alternative but to somehow find a way to accelerate vaccination.
So let's not waste any more time! (5/5)