India Beats Vaccination Expectation in Aug, But Needs to Rapidly Build on Feat for December Deadline

For June, the Centre had assured supply of 11.95 crore Covid vaccine doses. The country was just around 50 lakh doses short of the target estimated when June got over.

The July target was total administration of 13.50 crore vaccine doses. The target was almost achieved with 13,45,82,577 jabs administered. July saw an increase of 12.5% in the pace of vaccination over June.

For August, it was expected that around 15 crore of total jabs will be administered, slightly above than the assessment done before for July. The final result – 18,38,14,912 jabs administered this month – much higher than what was earlier estimated.

So, can August be the turnaround month for Covid vaccination drive in India?

In August, the country has seen the scale of vaccination going up significantly, much in the line of what is being demanded, especially after the shortage of vaccines during the peak of the 2nd Covid wave in April and May.

As per the final figures of the Health Ministry of the Government of India, the country administered 36.6% more vaccines in August than July. As many as 13,45,82,577 jabs were administered in July.

Corresponding to the increase in monthly vaccination figures, per day vaccination has also seen a rapid growth in last three months, mainly from July to August. On an average, 39,88,979 doses per day were administered in June that increased to 43,41,373 doses in July while August saw a significant increase of 37% with average per day vaccination of 59,29,513 doses.

Month of August, in fact, really brought cheers for many Indians demanding and waiting for jabs. The country saw a record vaccination of over 1.33 crore vaccinations on the last day of the month, the highest so far and in fact repeated this 1 crore feat just 3 days after ‘first 1 crore a day vaccination’ target achieved on July 27 with 1.03 crore doses administered that day. Last 10 days in fact saw around 7 crore jabs administered.

August vaccination data gives residents of India hope that by December India will be in a position to vaccinate its entire or most of the adult population base of 94 crore Indians with deals finalized for almost 141 crore approved vaccines to maintain the stockpile.

The increased pace of vaccination is a much needed requirement and respite before the third Covid wave hits the country. Health experts have advised to vaccinate as many Indians as possible before the third Covid wave hit the country sometimes this month and may peak in during October or November. More vaccination before the 3rd wave really strikes means lesser risk of facing another disaster that India saw in April and May.

Going by the latest final figures from the Health Ministry, the country has administered 65,41,13,508 crore vaccine doses so far with more than half or 53.53% of adult individuals receiving at least one dose while 16% adult Individuals have been fully vaccinated. For overall population base, India has been able to vaccinate 11% of its total population.

The country still has 43.68 crore unvaccinated adult individuals and they will be sitting ducks during the third Covid wave and they need to be vaccinated as soon as possible.

India needs to rapidly build on the scale achieved in August. The central government has assured the nation that from August and till December, the country would get at least 136 crore doses of ‘Made in India’ vaccines, Covishield and Covaxin, giving their monthly production and supply data – 25.65 crore doses to be manufactured in August; 26.15 crore in September; 28.25 crore in October; 28.25 crore doses in November; and 28.5 crore doses in December. Additionally, India is also going to get at least 5 crore doses of two other vaccines – 2.5 crore doses of Zydus Cadila vaccine and 2.5 crore of Sputnik V vaccine produced in India by Panacea Biotech.

Also, some additional deals may significantly happen soon. SII is expected to launch Covavax vaccine, the Indian version of US vaccine Novavax in October. India has also paid in advance for 30 crore vaccines from Hyderabad-based company Biological E for its under-development Corbevax vaccine. And Bharat Biotech’s under development nasal vaccine in fact could be a better alternative than intramuscular vaccines. So, India is expected to get additional vaccines it needs to vaccinate the entire adult population base.

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