Is 2.16B Jabs Target Unachievable For India?

India currently is suffering from an acute shortage of vaccines, due to which various vaccination centres have had to shut down vaccinations for several days. To ease access to vaccines, the Government of India has permitted states to source COVID-19 vaccines from manufacturers across the globe.

- Prabhat Prakash

India opened its doors to foreign companies that manufacture COVID-19 vaccines to come to India on April 13, 2021, those which have been approved for restricted use by US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA), European Medicines Agency (EMA), UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency (PMDA) Japan or which are listed in the World Health Organisation (WHO)’s emergency use listing (EUL). Prior to this, India was using COVISHIELD manufactured by Serum Institute of India and COVAXIN manufactured by Bharat Biotech to vaccinate the citizens of the nation against COVID-19. On April 12, 2021, the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) approved the Russian COVID-19 vaccine, Sputnik V, which became the first foreign vaccine to receive approval in India.

A tall order

As on May 31, 2021 the cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in India exceeded 21.58 crore. The total of 21,58,18,547 include 98,83,778 Healthcare Workers (HCWs) who have taken the 1st dose and 67,87,633 HCWs who have taken the 2nd dose, 1,56,67,311 Frontline Workers (FLWs) (1st dose), 85,21,965 FLWs (2nd dose), 2,02,10,889 for 18-44 years of age group (1st dose) and 23,491 for 18-44 years of age group (2nd dose). 6,64,02,012 for over 45 years old to 60 years old (1st Dose), 1,07,15,693 for over 45 years old to 60 years old (2nd dose), 5,88,31,736 for above 60 years (1st Dose) and 1,87,74,039 for above 60 years (2nd Dose).