|
 The 8.6 million doses injected on Monday represented a record
two-fold jump as India kicked off free inoculation for all adults,
reversing a policy for individual states and hospitals to buy
vaccines for those aged 18 to 44.
"This is clearly not sustainable," Chandrakant Lahariya, an expert
in public policy and health systems, told Reuters.
"With the currently projected vaccine supply for the next few
months, the maximum daily achievable rate is 4 million to 5 million
a day."
The inoculation effort in the world's second most populous nation
had covered just about 5.5% of all the 950 million people eligible,
even though India is the world's largest producer of vaccines.
A devastating second wave of infections during April and May
overwhelmed medical staff and facilities, killing hundreds of
thousands. Images of funeral pyres blazing in car parks and open
spaces spurred questions over the chaotic vaccine rollout.
Since May, India has distributed an average of fewer than 3 million
doses each day, far less than the 10 million health officials say is
crucial to protect the millions vulnerable to new surges.
Particularly in the countryside, where two-thirds of a population of
1.4 billion lives and the healthcare system is often overstretched,
the drive has faltered, experts say.
Maintaining the pace of the vaccination effort will prove
particularly challenging when it comes to injecting the younger
population in such "underserved" areas, said Delhi-based
epidemiologist Rajib Dasgupta.
[to top of second column] |
 Widespread vaccine shortages
since May have worsened the divide between urban
and rural areas, as many younger people in
cities turned to private hospitals, paying
between $9 and $24 a dose in the rush to protect
themselves from the virus.
Such regional gaps in healthcare are exacerbated
unless comprehensive data is made available on
vaccinations, among others factors, said Bhramar
Mukherjee, a professor of epidemiology at the
University of Michigan.
Authorities in New Delhi said more than 8 million residents had yet
to receive a first dose, and added that inoculating all the adults
in the capital would take more than a year, at the current pace.
Even as new infections have dropped nationwide to their lowest in
more than three months, experts expressed concern over the
transmissibility of the variants driving infections in India and
spreading worldwide and urged a faster vaccination effort.
Over the past 24 hours India reported 42,640 new infections, its
lowest figure since March 23, along with 1,167 deaths.
Its tally of infections now stands at 29.98 million, with a death
toll of 389,302, health ministry data showed.
(Reporting by Uday Sampath Kumar and Bhargav Acharya, Ankur Banerjee
in Bengaluru, Shilpa Jamkhandikar in Pune; Writing by Neha Arora;
Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
[© 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2021 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content |
