The Problem With India’s COVID-19 Vaccination Campaign

Over the past couple of weeks, India’s situation with COVID-19 has worsened significantly. With rising cases, not enough supplies to vaccinate their population of nearly 1.4B people, and late support from the rest of the world, the country has seemingly been overwhelmed by the virus. 

The death toll recently passed 200,000, with the total cases adding up to 18M. Today, India’s spike makes it an extremely saturated haven for the virus. 

Because of their prior reliance on Indian supplies during the early days of the pandemic, American president Joe Biden felt immediate pressure from the media to send supplies to India. Mr. Biden recently took to Twitter and put out a statement, noting:

“Just as India sent assistance to the United States as our hospitals were strained early in the pandemic, we are determined to help India in its time of need.”

Right now, that support comes in the form of raw materials, manufacturing supplies, and financial aid for India’s vaccine production. Furthermore, the president announced that the U.S would soon donate their dormant doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, owned by the U.S but are currently going unused. The amount of donated vaccines is expected to be around 60M, and most will likely be directed towards India.

However, the current assistance from the U.S will take time to get up and running, a time that India may not have. Creating vaccine batches from raw materials can take between 2-6 weeks, meaning that the new resources may not be initially available for use.  

That’s a fundamental distinction to make. When you consider that India’s problem lies within its inability to vaccinate the population at a fast rate, the donations don’t seem to be as impactful in the short term. 

Per vaccine trackers, India’s given out 121 million doses thus far. That may initially sound fine, but it only covers around 8.9% of their population. The fully vaccinated numbers are even worse, with only 1.7% having received their second dose. The country is vaccinating about 3M people per day, comparable to the U.S’s rate. The problem? India is 4x as large. 

Even in the U.S, where the rollout has been muddled by a mixture of hesitancy, mistrust, polarization, and a variety of other obstacles, 30% of the population has been fully inoculated. 

However, the U.S isn’t the only entity that’s sending support to India. The spike has overwhelmed their healthcare system, leading other countries and conglomerates to donate various pieces of medical equipment. Including oxygen concentrators, ventilators, and other supplies to care for the quickly filling hospital beds, the world is finally beginning to take India’s situation seriously. To support the cause, click here.