COVID-19 vaccination drive in India has reached a new milestone on 7th January 2022. The total number of vaccines doses given in India has now surpassed the 150 crore mark. Teens of the age group 15 to 18 were allowed to register for their first dose of vaccine from 3rd January 2022. More than 2 crore teens have already registered for their doses which is about 25 per cent of the total number of eligible teens. This is seen as a major milestone in India’s fight against the pandemic. India had started its COVID-19 vaccination drive on 16th January 2022. Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin and Serum Institute’s Covishield were the vaccines adopted by India to roll on and carry out this vaccination drive.
Initially, front line workers including doctors, paramedical staff, security persons and sanitation workers were the ones to be vaccinated on priority. A major part of the eligible citizens out of these was vaccinated before 1st March 2021, when the vaccination drive was opened for other common citizens with priority given to senior citizens and the people with co-morbidities this time.
PM Modi himself led this initiative from the front, taking his first dose of Covaxin – the made in India COVID-19 vaccine. This gesture proved to be a mass motivator as citizens across the nation showed keen interest in getting vaccine doses on prescribed schedules. As the number of total doses administered crosses the 150 crore mark, here is a brief recap of how did we achieve this.
Made in India vaccines
Made in India vaccines have been the salient feature of India’s vaccination drive and its fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. This drive is specifically carried out with two vaccines namely Covaxin and Covishield. Covaxin is India’s indigenous COVID-19 vaccine by Bharat Biotech is developed in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) – National Institute of Virology (NIV). Covishield is the Oxford–AstraZeneca vaccine which is manufactured under license by Serum Institute of India under the tradename Covishield. India has been very confident and vocal about the made in India vaccines.
India has cleverly kept away the foreign vaccine makers like Pfizer who were demanding access to military bases and federal reserves as collateral while providing vaccines to nations like Brazil and Argentina. India also ignored all the doubts raised about Indian vaccines by some self-motivated individuals and trusted its might to carry out large scale vaccination drives which were well proven in drives like that of Pulse Polio vaccination drive in the last three decades.
Beginning in the middle of the second wave
As the nation was hit by the second wave of the pandemic, the vaccination drive was picking up the pace simultaneously. Indian citizens also observed Vaccination Festival in the second week of April to boost each other’s confidence in the vaccines amidst the second wave which was then rising upwards. Though the number of daily new cases was increasing, the lines of citizens on the vaccination booths were bolstering the trust in the efforts taken by India’s health workers across the nation. On 21st June 2021, when the central government took over the monitoring of the vaccination drives which were monitored by the states till then, India witnessed the onset of its major push back to the pandemic.
Turning the tide
After this point right in the middle of the second wave, the vaccination drive geared up even faster. All the adults above the age of 18 were now eligible for the vaccination as the health workers had by then vaccinated a major part of the eligible senior citizens already. As the youth showed an enthusiastic approach towards the drive, the vaccination centres were running at full capacity. India finished 40 crore doses in the month of July. By the end of August, the number was 60 crore doses. Amidst various doubts and criticism, the people of India were busy turning the tide.
Unique way to thank the supreme leader
In the month of August Indian healthcare systems for the first time administered more than one crore jabs in a day which was a record in this vaccination drive. But in the very next month, India showcased something very phenomenal. On 17th September 2021, Prime Minister Narendra Modi celebrated his 71st birthday. On this occasion, the central government and various state governments decided to celebrate the Prime Minister’s birthday in the service of the country—aiming to vaccinate a record number of Indians. Over 2.5 crore doses of COVID vaccine had been administered by midnight on September 17 making this the highest single-day vaccination tally by then.
One billion within ten months
On 21st October 2021, India’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage crossed an important milestone of the 100 crore mark. With this, India became the second country after China to have administered over 1 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccine to its population. It took less than 10 months for the country to dispense over 100 crore doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
As easy as it seems from hindsight, in reality, it was a herculean task. There were so many unexpected difficulties. There were so many roadblocks in the way. From opposition parties’ attempts to fuel vaccine hesitancy to the disruption in the global supply chain, India’s vaccination drive suffered a few setbacks but the central government’s resolve to vaccinate the country trumped all difficulties. Response by the people of India wiped out the vaccine hesitancy which was initially being spread by the opposition.
The journey ahead
The government of India identified hurdles people living in remote areas were facing in order to reach the vaccination centres. There still are some misconceptions and fears about vaccines that keep the unvaccinated or partially-vaccinated people away from the health centres. Elderly people and Divyang citizens find it difficult to visit the hospitals for vaccination. Taking all these things into consideration, the government of India started the ‘Har Ghar Dastak’ campaign in which health workers reached out to people living in even remote areas and inoculated them against the COVID-19 pandemic. This step proved to be a game-changer as India managed to successfully vaccinate 50 per cent of its eligible population by 4 December 2021.
Safeguarding the future and caring the elders
PM Modi has been very keen about focusing his attention on the youth of the country. Even while interacting with the Olympic players of the Indian squad he had insisted they visit the schools to motivate the students for fitness and make them aware of the importance of nutrition. Then how would he miss out on the vaccination of teens and kids? When more than 90% of the eligible adult Indians were vaccinated with at least the first dose, it was decided to introduce teens into the vaccination drive.
Registration windows for the teens of the age group 15 to 18 were opened on the 3rd of January 2022. A provision for the booster dose of senior citizens was also made and their registration windows for the third dose of the vaccine is about to open on 10th January 2022. There are about 7.5 crore teens in India who are in the age group of 15 to 18. Out of these more than 25% have already registered in the first week itself. India’s achievement to cross the 150 crore mark of the total vaccine doses administered, has a golden shade of this bubbling enthusiasm.
