India’s journey towards 100-crore vaccine milestone in just over 9 months

Significantly, almost 15 out of every 100 doses that have been administered globally have been from India.

The number is also significant because more than 65 per cent of the total vaccines administered in India have been in the rural parts of the country — an indicator of greater equity in access to the shots. In stark contrast, as public health experts have been raising concerns over vaccine inequity, according to estimates — just over 3 per cent of the people in the lower-income countries have received one dose.

India’s vaccination coverage has been steadily increasing: 74 per cent of the estimated adult population has received its first dose, and 31 per cent is fully vaccinated.

The pace of India’s vaccination drive had earlier come under huge criticism when the country was hit by the second Covid-19 wave.

In May, India was facing was a severe shortage in vaccines, due to production constraints that were faced by Pune-based Serum Institute of India and Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech. However, due to the augmentation in the manufacturing capacity, a staggering 103.4 crore doses have been supplied to the state; and more than 10.85 crore doses balance and unutilised doses are still available to be administered.

According to the official data, eight states in the country have conducted over 6 crore cumulative vaccinations: Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, and Rajasthan.

However, the journey to this 100-crore mark hasn’t been very simple. We take a look:

On January 16, India launched the Covid-19 vaccination drive prioritising the healthcare and frontline workers. As of Wednesday morning, 1.03 crore healthcare workers have received their first dose, and, 90.98 lakh have got both the shots. Similarly, 1.83 crore frontline workers have received their first dose, and 1.55 crore both shots.

On March 1, the Centre opened up the vaccination drive for the most vulnerable groups: people above the age of 60, and people above 45 with co-morbidities. Amid the devastating second wave that was being reported in the country, on April 1, India rolled out the new phase — making every individual above the age of 45 years eligible for a vaccine shot.

According to the official data, in the 60-plus age group, 10.62 crore people have administered with the first dose and 6.20 crore are fully vaccinated. In the 45-plus age group, 16.88 crore have got their first dose and 8.76 are fully inoculated.

On May 1, India expanded its vaccination coverage including everyone aged 18 year and above. However, the 18-44 age group could get vaccinated from only 50 per cent doses available in the open market and procured by state governments and private hospitals. \

This changed on June 21 when India returned to centralised procurement of vaccines after several states had faced difficulties in managing funds to buy the shots. According to official data, 39.73 crore beneficiaries in the 18-44 age group have received the first dose while 11.57 crore have got both the shots.

In April and May, when India was facing an acute shortage of Covid-19 vaccines, there was a tussle between Opposition-ruled states and the Centre. Maharashtra had earlier levelled allegations that it had received a disproportionate number of doses compared to the BJP-ruled states. However, former health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan had come down heavily on the Uddhav Thackeray-led government saying they were “politicizing” a public health issue and “trying to divert attention from their poor vaccination efforts by continuously shifting the goalposts”.