India outperforms top nations in COVID-19 vaccination: 28.2 cr people fully inoculated

Clocking a billion COVID vaccine doses on Thursday, India races ahead of the other nations to innoculate its entire eligible population against COVID-19. As per ourworldindata, India has now clocked the highest number vaccine doses administered in the world with 1,00,06,44,700 doses of which 70,83,88,485 have been inoculated with one dose and  29,18,32,226 have been administered both doses. India aims to innoculate its entire adult population by December 2021.

India outpaces world powers in vaccination

Following India, the United States has inoculated 21.8 crore people with atleast one dose. Brazil (15.6 cr), Mexico (6.79 cr), Pakistan (6.4 cr), Germany (5.7 cr) follow the US in the number of people vaccinated with one dose atleast. India also tops the world in the highest number of people fully vaccinated against COVID-19 with 28.2 crores, followed by United States with 18.9 crores, Brazil with 10.6 crores, Germany with 5.4 crores and France at 4.5 crores.

With respect to vaccination with respect to population, UAE leads inoculating 96% of its eligible population, followed by Portugal (88%), Cuba (86%), Chile (84%), Spain (81%) and Singapore (80%). Large populated countries like the US has clocked 65%, while India has clocked 50%. The world average is at 48%. With most countries using Pfizer, Moderna or Astrazenaca vaccines, top countries follow a 1-month gap between two vaccine doses. India, on the other hand, has prioritised inoculating a higher number of people, opting for a 3-month gap between two Covishield doses - its major vaccinator. India's vaccine basket has six jabs - Covishield, Covaxin, Sputnik V, Moderna vaccine, J&J's Janssen vaccine and Zydus Cadila's ZyCOV-D with Gennova's mRNA vaccine, Biological E's Corbevax, Covaxin's nasal vaccine and Novovax's Covovax in the pipeline.

Effect of India's staggered vaccination

The effect of India's staggered vaccine doses is evident as India's COVID-19 cases which peaked in May 2021 (during 2nd wave) with 3,89,672 cases/daily, but has now fallen to 15,493 new cases/daily. On the other hand, the United States which was reporting 40,907 cases/daily in May 2021 as it opened up, has now risen to 84,932 cases/daily. Similarly, the United Kingdom which was reporting 2087 cases/daily is now seeing an uptick with 43,617 cases/daily. UK has fully vaccinated 66.56% of its population while US has fully vaccinated 56.34% of its population. Mask mandate has also been relaxed in most countries for the vaccinated population, while India still has a strict mask policy for its entire population.

India started inoculating its citizens in a phased manner from January 16, prioritising healthcare workers first. As per COWIN portal, 75 percent of all adults have received the first dose of the vaccine and 31 per cent have been administered both doses. Topping the list of highest doses are Uttar Pradesh (12,08,84,032), Maharashtra (9,23,34,244), West Bengal (6,82,34,821), Gujarat (6,73,60,662) and Madhya Pradesh (6,67,91,915). More than 103.5 crore vaccine doses have been provided to States/UTs till date and over 10.85 Cr unutilized vaccine doses are still available.