Coronavirus Vaccines

India crosses 10m vaccinations, prepares to ramp up capacity

Municipal Corporation staff queueing for the vaccine in New Delhi yesterday. At current vaccination rates, India could overshoot its July to August target to inoculate 300 million people by several months.
Municipal Corporation staff queueing for the vaccine in New Delhi yesterday. At current vaccination rates, India could overshoot its July to August target to inoculate 300 million people by several months. PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

India has crossed the 10 million mark in administering Covid-19 vaccine doses.

In a tweet on Friday, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said India had taken 34 days to get to this mark, the second fastest in the world to get to this number.

The milestone comes amid growing calls - including from private players seeking a greater role in the vaccination drive - for India to ramp up inoculations, as the number of daily new cases shows a renewed surge in some states.

India began its Covid-19 vaccination programme on Jan 16 and aims to vaccinate about 300 million people in priority groups, including seniors, by July to August.

With 10,715,204 vaccine doses given as at 8am yesterday, India is currently ranked third for total doses administered, with the US in first position and the United Kingdom in second.

It is expected to open up vaccinations for citizens above 50 in the next two to three weeks.

Progress in expanding vaccination coverage has been slow, primarily due to vaccine hesitancy and tech glitches in an app being used for the vaccination drive.

At current rates of vaccination, India could overshoot its July to August target by several months.

However, Professor N.K. Arora, chairman of the Covid-19 working group of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation in India, told The Sunday Times that the target set by the government is achievable and vaccinations could soon touch "five to seven million daily".

"We are in a marathon and in a marathon, you do not take off at the highest speed right from day one. You gradually warm up, learn and position yourself and then take off," he said, adding that the administration now better understands the challenges involved.

The government is working to increase the number of immunisation centres from the current figure of around 12,000.

"We have the capacity of having 50,000 to 100,000 immunisation centres operating any single day," Prof Arora said.

Meanwhile, the Confederation of Indian Industry suggested in a statement on Thursday that business enterprises be permitted to vaccinate employees and their immediate family members, while adhering to government guidelines.

Professor K. Srinath Reddy, president of the Public Health Foundation of India, told ST the private sector would have to follow priorities set by the government to avoid diversion of vaccine stocks to non-priority groups.

It is also important, he said, to train more people to give vaccinations to ensure local administrations have enough of them to carry out vaccinations.

"Then to build vaccine confidence among the people, you have to use local community networks, not just national beam-outs or messages on national media. You need local community networks to be activated," he added.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Sunday Times on February 21, 2021, with the headline India crosses 10m vaccinations, prepares to ramp up capacity. Subscribe