India’s Oxygen Crisis And Why COVID-19 Variants Are Troubling

India is facing a critical shortage of oxygen and limited supply of vaccines, amid a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, with over million people infected and over 234,000 deaths as of May 7, 2021. Ramanan Laxminarayan, a trained epidemiologist and economist, is director of the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy. He formed OxygenForIndia (), a collective of medical and public health professionals and volunteers. He speaks to #InConversation about 00:00 The explosion of COVID-19 deaths and cases in New Delhi 00:58 The desperate shortage of oxygen in India due to last-mile logistics challenges 02:06 How OxygenForIndia is helping patients in need of oxygen cylinders 02:44 How the COVID-19 situation in Delhi brings out the best and worst in people 03:33 The Indian variants (B1617 & B1619) of the coronavirus 04:29 Why people should get vaccinated anyway 05:04 India’s vaccination challenge 05:39 Unequal access to vaccines