COVID-19 vaccination picks pace in India; these states have outdone several nations

Over 75 crore doses have been administered so far in India and Union Health Minister Maansukh Mandaviya said the country will have 43 percent fully vaccinated adults by December, 2021.

But even as vaccination rates speed up, the government’s target looks improbable. The government had aimed at an ambitious 200 crore doses by the end of December. With 125 crore doses remaining to be administered and just over 100 days left till the end of the year, the government would need to give over 1.2 crore jabs per day. At the current rate of vaccination, the 200-crore target will only be met by March 2022.

Experts have said 60 percent of the population needs to be fully vaccinated in order to prevent a potential third wave of COVID-19. Currently, only 13 percent of the eligible population is fully vaccinated while 41 percent has received at least one dose of the vaccine.

Also read: Govt’s vaccine math: Zydus, Sputnik do not figure in official numbers, says AMICUS’ Dr Neelkantan

The US -- where vaccination rates are starting to slow down because of the partisan divide over the efficacy of scientifically developed vaccines -- has managed to fully vaccinate 54 percent of its population.

With sections of populations remaining unvaccinated, whether by choice or by circumstances, the COVID-19 virus has an opportunity to infect and mutate. Such mutations can make the SARS CoV-2 virus more resilient against antibodies generated by vaccines and possibly endanger the global immunisation effort.

Also read: Delta variant can infect fully-vaccinated people; priority should be to distribute vaccines across world: WHO Chief Scientist