Complete vaccination for 30 crore Indians by July may be an uphill task

The government is far from achieving its goal of vaccinating (double dosing) the priority group of 27 crore seniors, 2 crore frontline workers and 1 crore health worker. Of the 30 Crore Indians in the priority group who were both supposed to receive shots against Covid-19, less than 10 percent were covered.

Of the 30 crore priority group, fewer than 3 crore (2,92,09,885) received both doses of the vaccine. This includes 6,471,385 health care workers, 7,755,283 frontline workers and 1,4983217 seniors in India.

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65,61,851 Indians in the 45-60 age group received both doses of the vaccine. But they were never part of the priority group.

If you include this subgroup, a total of 3, 57, 71,736 Indians have both vaccine doses.

It’s been 114 days since the vaccination started. On Monday the government released a tweet saying that India has had 17 crore vaccinations so far and India was the fastest country to accomplish this feat in terms of time needed. It took China 119 days while the US took 115 days to reach the same landmark. India took 114.

The center says more than 1 crore vaccines are available in the states, but capitalizes on the serious shortage. Global concerns have been expressed about the slow rate of vaccination in India.

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Fitch Ratings has warned that India’s slow pace of vaccination means the country could remain vulnerable to more waves of COVID 19 once the current surge subsides.

The Lancet reportedly said in an opinion piece that India vaccinated less than 2 percent of its population because vaccinations are slow and that “the botched vaccination campaign needs to be streamlined and carried out at a reasonable pace”.

According to government data, over 20 Lakh Indians over 18 have received a vaccination shot since the voyage began on May 1. An average of 2 Lakh Indians between the ages of 18 and 45 got the sting. There are a total of 55 Crore Indians who need the push against Covid-19. So far, only 0.36% have received a dose.