Barely a fortnight away from the end of the year, India is away from its stated goal of completely immunizing its adult population with two doses of a COVID vaccine.
According to the data of the Union Health Ministry, 1.37 billion doses have been given till Sunday. While 55.52% of the adult population received both doses, 87% received the first dose.
Despite India running the world’s largest vaccination program for children, the adult population was skeptical about its ability to vaccinate on a large scale against COVID.
“While the universal immunization program is largely for children up to one year of age, the logistics for production, forecasting, storage, cold chain management, distribution and administration by assisted nursing midwives are robust and functional. Public-private partnership initiative, Public Health Dr Preeti Kumar, Vice President, Health System Support, Foundation of India (PHFI), said, “This went a long way in furthering and scaling up the COVID vaccination campaign.” “A less recognized fact is that India has a large population accessing adult immunization through the private sector. Thus, both the public and private sectors worked together.”
According to Kumar, support for the discovery of a Covid vaccine at the start of the pandemic and assurance of procurement of doses to encourage private players to make adequate vaccines should also be seen as a strong response from the Centre.
The nationwide vaccination campaign was launched on 16 January for healthcare professionals, followed by frontline workers on 2 February. The second phase of COVID vaccination began on March 1 for the population above 60 and those aged 45 years and above with specific co-morbid conditions. The third phase was launched on April 1 covering the age group above 45. Subsequently, with supplies stabilizing, the vaccination campaign was extended to all adults from 21 June.
India’s vaccination campaign consists of three jabs: Covaxin, developed by Bharat Biotech; Developed by Oxford-AstraZeneca and Serum Institute of India manufactured Covishield; and Russia’s Sputnik V.
“2021 is a great year for India in the field of vaccination. After a slow start and initial hiccups, India has managed to deliver the COVID vaccination to over 50% of its citizens. There are lessons to be learned from this. The presence of vaccine hesitancy in the early period underscores the importance of investing in risk communication and community engagement. Strong political will and participation from all sections of the society were the keys to success,” said Dr Naveen Thakar, President-elect, International Pediatric Association and Gavi Board, former civil society organization representative of the Vaccine Alliance.
“It has been a year of digital revolution and use of technology which can be further leveraged. Delta Wave has exposed the vulnerability of our healthcare system and we need to invest more in infrastructure, logistics, supply chain and capacity building.”
COVID 2.0 saw a rapid increase in the number of coronavirus cases and deaths, exposing the inadequacy of the Indian healthcare system to deal with the enormous health needs.
With Covid cases reaching 450,000 per day in April, the healthcare system was in complete disarray. Many patients are critically ill requiring tertiary hospital care, reducing the number of beds, oxygen facilities and the number of medical professionals, leaving many without treatment.
“It was a wake-up call. With an aggressive push, we have now managed to vaccinate a significant percentage of our population,” said Dr. Bishnu Panigrahi, Group Head, Medical Strategy and Operations, Fortis Healthcare.
As India welcomes the new year, public health experts said new challenges include the rise of new forms and the government’s indecision on allowing booster doses and vaccinations to children.
“As of 2022, booster doses and immunization of children are the need of the hour. COVID-appropriate behavior should be our primary shield against Omicron. We should not be complacent. What is happening in Europe should not be allowed to happen in India. Vaccination, COVID-appropriate behaviour, testing, surveillance and contact tracing are what we should focus on. All Indians should be sensitized to ensure that we do not suffer in 2022,” Panigrahi said.
Dilip Jose, MD and CEO of Manipal Hospitals said that the illiterate population is a matter of concern.
Meanwhile India recorded over 7,081 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours.
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