INDIA'S VACCINATION SUCCESS IS A GLOBAL TRAILBLAZER

Unity of purpose between political and religious leaders and nations against an enemy of the entire humanity is the only way to end and recover from a pandemic.

- DR P.S. VENKATESH RAO

On 23 March 2020, World Health Organisation (WHO) director, Dr Michael J. Ryan said that India has tremendous capacities and had previously led the world in eradicating two killers, smallpox and polio. He expected India to show the way again and India did not disappoint. The enormity of India's vaccination success is obvious from the sheer magnitude of the Indian population and geography covered, the R&D, logistical, and numerous other challenges overcome to provide vaccines free of charge, even to the beneficiary's doorstep at remote locations. Drones were used to supply vaccines and healthcare workers utilized bicycles, boats, and camels. The "Har Ghar Dastak" (house-to-house) campaign reached out to all missedout or dropped-out eligible beneficiaries. India achieved several unprecedented global milestones, including administering over 100 crore doses in less than nine months, administering 2.51 crore doses in a single day, and several times administering one crore doses in a day. The current population of India is 1.4 billion and constitutes 17.5% of the world's 8 billion population. Till now a total of 2,206,624,273 vaccine doses have been administered in Invaccine dia, of 13,340,343,269 doses administered globally. 90% of eligible beneficiaries in India have received both doses. Globally, there have been 0.76 billion confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 6.89 million deaths reported to WHO. These confirmed cases include 0.1 billion cases in the US in a population of 0.3 billion (33%), 0.09 billion cases in Ch