India’s vaccination coverage to remain under 35% by end of 2021: IMF

New Delhi, May 23: The International Monetary Fund has warned that the vaccine coverage in India is expected to remain under 35 per cent of the population by the end of 2021.

"The April 2021 World Economic Outlook (IMF, 2021) projected a dangerous divergence in prospects across countries with emerging and developing economies (excluding China) expected to have slower recoveries and greater scarring. This was despite the fact that the pandemic had on average hit the advanced economies harder and that several developing countries with weak health systems had been spared the worst of the pandemic," the IMF said in its report.

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"However, the ongoing catastrophic second wave in India, following a terrible wave in Brazil, is a sign the worst may be yet to come in the developing world. While India's health system held up fairly well in the first wave, this time around its health system is so overwhelmed that many are dying because of a lack of medical supplies like oxygen, hospital beds, and medical care," the report by Gita Gopinath and Ruchit Agarwal said.

"Under the business-as-usual scenario, the vaccine coverage in India is expected to reach under 35 per cent. Other LMICs and high-income countries are expected to have a coverage of around 50 per cent and 70 per cent, respectively," the report also said.