India surpasses 1bn vaccine mark after stuttering start to campaign
India administered its billionth Covid vaccine on Thursday, a milestone that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government hopes will help the country put aside painful memories of this year’s devastating second wave.
About 22 per cent of Indians are fully inoculated and 53 per cent have received at least one vaccine dose — a significant level of protection for a population that was heavily exposed to the virus, with widespread infections and illness.
“India scripts history,” Modi tweeted. “We are witnessing the triumph of Indian science, enterprise and the collective spirit of 1.3bn Indians.”
India is reporting daily new confirmed infections numbering about 15,400 on average, down from some 400,000 in early May, when the second wave overwhelmed hospitals and left many people unable to secure medical care.
Fears that India could be hit by a third wave have receded, while many children of primary school age are gradually returning to classrooms after being barred since March 2020.
“It’s a big achievement,” said Brian Wahl, a New Delhi-based epidemiologist for Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “Given the high current levels of exposure and vaccinations, the prospect of a third wave, on par with or exceeding the second wave, is minimal in my mind.”
Members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party called India’s vaccine rollout an achievement that had surpassed all other democracies in the world and hailed the leadership of Modi, who came under fire earlier in the year for his management of the pandemic.
Shashi Tharoor, a senior leader of the opposition Congress party, called the milestone “a matter of pride for all Indians” but said it could not erase the government’s mistakes.
“After severe mismanagement of the second Covid wave & botching the vaccination orders that might have prevented it, govt has now partly redeemed itself,” he tweeted. “It remains accountable for its earlier failures.”
India’s vaccine rollout started sluggishly in January, hindered by hesitancy among the population and limited supplies, despite being home to the Serum Institute of India, the world’s leading jab manufacturer. But demand for vaccinations surged as the highly infectious Delta variant spread.
The government restricted vaccine exports in response to public anger, leaving the World Health Organization-backed Covax programme — which had ordered jabs from the Serum Institute to supply to other developing countries — in the lurch.
“It was a necessary decision,” said Leena Menghaney, South Asia head for Médecins Sans Frontières’ Access Campaign. “The Delta wave was happening.”
But the ban damaged India’s reputation as a reliable supplier and spurred a debate about the need to diversify supply chains to reduce risk. “It’s going to have long-term ramifications for India’s role as the pharmacy of the developing world,” Menghaney said.
Covishield, the Serum Institute’s version of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, has accounted for about 88 per cent of all the administered jabs in India. Covaxin, an indigenous vaccine that has not been approved by the WHO, represents 11 per cent of the total. A small number of Russia’s Sputnik vaccines have also been given. India’s vaccine drive has relied heavily on individuals and private employers to pay for the jabs.
India has not started vaccinating those under the age of 18, who represent 40 per cent of its population. Demand is also waning, with the seven-day moving average of daily vaccinations at 3.9m on October 18, down from 8.2m 10 days earlier, raising concerns that many Indians are failing to obtain the second dose necessary for full protection.
“When the wave was on, people were desperate for vaccines, and now that the wave has receded, people have just gone back to their lives and forgotten they need to take the second dose as well,” said Menghaney.
India has reported 34m Covid infections and more than 450,000 Covid-related deaths since the start of the pandemic. Independent epidemiologists, however, say the actual spread of the virus — and the real death toll — far exceeds official statistics.