Welcome to Episode number 9 at Chayakkada Chats. Just as everyone thought that the Covid crisis was on the ebb, a second wave of infections has spread across large parts of the world. India has been no exception. As of today, we record more than 200,000 infections every day with the total number of active cases at 1.6 million. About 175,000 people have died till now. As we stare at the grim prospect of another lockdown, it is important to ask a few basic questions. How is the second wave different from the first wave? Has India learnt anything from the first wave? What is the story of the new variant of the virus? Is there a shortage of vaccines in India? Was the Indian government too conservative in allowing more vaccines to hit the Indian market? Should India deregulate prices of vaccines so that private players will respond to the price incentives and supply more? To discuss these and more, we are joined today by one of India's foremost public health experts: Dr T. SUNDARARAMAN. Dr Sundararaman spent the first 22 years of his professional life as a member of the faculty and professor of Department of Internal Medicine, JIPMER. He then moved to working with public health systems. He was head of the State Health Resource Center Chhattisgarh from 2002 to 2007. Then he was executive director of National Health Systems Resource Center, from 2007 to 2014. He returned to academics later, as Professor and Dean of the School of Health Systems Studies in Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. He is now an independent health consultant. All along, he has also been an activist for health rights and an organizer of people’s health movements or Jan Swasthya Abhiyan as it is popularly known.