Vaccines must be uncontrolled if deaths are to be controlled.

"According to the Worldometers website, India which is going through the raging second wave of coronavirus recorded 3,54,531 infections on Sunday, besides 2,806 new COVID-19 related fatalities," Zee News. "The growing number of lockdowns will hurt economic activity," wrote Niranjan Rajadhyaksha. "More important from an economic point of view is how many people get their two jabs by September, or before the festival season begins." "It s important that enough people are vaccinated before India's festival season, so that consumer demand gets back on track, though the risk of persistent precautionary savings after large income shocks shouldn't be ignored." Of the Hindu festivals that draw vast crowds of people are: Jagannath Rathyatra on 12 July draws millions to Odisha, Raksha Bandhan on 22 August when sisters tie a 'Rakhi' (sacred thread) on the wrists of their brothers all over India, Ganesh Chaturthi starting 10 September which is huge in Gujarat and Maharashtra, Durga Puja and Dussehra from 11-15 October, very special in West Bengal and Nepal, and Diwali on 4 November when it is considered auspicious to make large purchases, such as cars, major appliances and even houses, in North India. Companies selling consumer goods rely on festivals for their yearly sales figures. Even last year, when the nation was just recovering slowly from the coronavirus lockdown, sales jumped during the festival season, Business Today. Whether people spend this year will depend on whether the rate of infections drops low enough for people to go out without fear, on how many have lost, or seen a fall in, earnings, and, especially, how many families have lost loved ones and will still be in mourning. Lots of businesses have shifted to the 'working from home' (WFH) model but this will have deleterious knock-on effects on employment, wrote Vivek Kaul. Maintenance jobs, like cleaners, drivers, local eateries and tea shops, will lose jobs. With demand for commercial real estate falling, construction of new buildings will decline, leading to fewer opportunities for manual labor. The construction industry employs over 45 million people, which could rise to 76.5 million with the increased government spending on infrastructure, The Economic Times (ET). A report by McKinsey says that "just 5% of the workforce can work remotely three to five days a week with no loss of productivity while an additional 15% could do so for one or two days a week, Times of India (TOI). "McKinsey says that one of the characteristics of a recession, which is what most economies are facing, is that firms look to cut costs by adopting greater automation and redesigning processes." "India's growing labour force and population mean that almost all jobs will grow significantly. But more than 20 million workers may have to move out of agriculture by 2030." "But post-Covid automation and e-commerce, although smaller than other countries, may decrease jobs available into which farm workers can shift." "On 20 August last year, the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration (NEGVAC) was constituted and met for the first time," wrote Prof Amir Ullah Khan and Saleema Razvi. This group recommended centralized procurement of vaccines but "in a meeting chaired by Prime Minster Narendra Modi, the Centre overturned the decision and has now allowed the private sector as well as the states to buy vaccines directly". "To reach herd immunity, three-fifths of the population needs to be vaccinated, which would require almost 1,450 million doses." Based on past records of "routine immunization program, UP, Chhattisgarh, Assam and Gujarat are among the laggards in this area and the reason for their poor performance are a combination of poor health systems and exceptionally low vaccine offtake". So, the economy depends on deaths and vaccines. Vaccines have been controlled so far. Death can't be controlled.