India has achieved over 200 crore vaccine dose stocks in 14 months of the Covid-19 vaccination drive, with 90 per cent of them being administered so far and a near saturation amongst adult population.
A senior government official said this was the “major reason” why the country had been able to blunt a third wave of the pandemic and stood in good stead to counter any future waves of the pandemic caused by the mutations of the virus.
“As on date, nearly 181 Cr vaccine doses have been administered and over 17 Cr doses are in stock with the state governments/UTs. More doses are in stock with private hospitals across the country, taking the total stock in the last 14 months to be over 200 Cr, a big achievement. We also have three indigenous vaccines now part of the drive,” the official told News18.
Nearly 88 crore first doses have been given to the adult population and nearly 81 crore second doses, nearing near-saturation levels amongst the 94 crore adults in the country. That is one reason why the daily vaccination rate has dropped in the country to an average of 20 lakh daily doses in March.
Only 1.33 crore vaccine doses were administered in the week between March 5-11, the lowest in any week in the last one year. The government has opened precaution doses for all aged above 60 years and for children aged 12-17 years to boost the vaccination numbers, appealing to all eligible to take the shots.
Apart from Covishield and Covaxin, Biological-E’s long-awaited Corbevax vaccine has also joined the vaccination drive for the 12-14 age group. The government had extended an advance of Rs 1,500 crore to Biological-E for reserving 30 crore vaccine doses for supplies — this is expected to be used for vaccinating children in the days to come. There is also an increasing demand for opening precaution doses for all adults, an issue on which the government is deliberating and may take a call in a couple of months after examination, an official said.
The high vaccination coverage in India is seen as a primary reason why the country was able to blunt the third wave and fatalities and hospitalisations remained low, unlike the second wave last year. India’s active caseload currently stands at just 30,799 cases, active cases stand at 0.07% and recovery rate is currently at 98.73%. Only 2,539 new cases were recorded in the last 24 hours, with the daily positivity rate at 0.35% and weekly positivity rate stands at 0.42%.
India has however issued an alarm ahead of the rising cases of Covid-19 in China and South-East Asia and the Health Ministry has asked for a high level of alertness, aggressive genome sequencing and intensified surveillance. The high vaccination coverage, with good availability of vaccines in stock, is expected to be India’s ace.
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