India begins drive to inoculate all adults against Covid-19

The government is offering vaccinations to adults, hoping to tame monstrous spike in cases

Motorists ride through a closed market area during the weekend lockdown imposed by the state government as a preventive measure against the spread of Covid-19 coronavirus in Amritsar on May 2, 2021. / AFP / Narinder NANUShow less

India opened vaccinations to all adults on Saturday, starting an effort sure to tax the limits of the federal government, the country’s vaccine factories and patience of its 1.4 billion people.

The world’s largest vaccine maker was still short of critical supplies due to lagging manufacturing and raw material shortages that delayed the campaign in several states. Even where drugs were in stock, India’s wide economic disparities made access to the vaccine inconsistent.

The drive was also partly overshadowed by a fire in a Covid-19 hospital ward in western India on Saturday that killed 18 patients, and the death of 12 coronavirus patients at a medical facility in New Delhi that ran out of oxygen for an hour and 20 minutes.

Only a fraction of India’s population will be able to afford the vaccine, experts said, meaning states will be saddled with immunising the 600 million Indian adults younger than 45, while the federal government gives shots to 300 million healthcare and front-line workers, and people older than 45.

So far, government vaccines have been free, and private hospitals have been permitted to sell shots capped at 250 rupees ($3). That will now change. Prices for state governments and private hospitals will be determined by vaccine companies. Some states might not be able to provide vaccines for free since they are paying twice as much as the federal government for the same shot, and prices at private hospitals could rise.

Since state governments and private players compete for shots in the same marketplace, and states pay less for doses, vaccine makers can reap more profit by selling to the private sector, said Chandrakant Lahariya, a health policy expert. That cost can then be passed on to people receiving the shots, increasing inequity.

“There is no logic that two different governments should be paying two prices,” Mr Lahariya said.

Concerns that pricing issues could deepen inequities are only the most recent hitch in India’s sluggish immunisation efforts. Less than 2 per cent of the population has been fully immunised and about 10 per cent has received one dose. The average number of shots per day has dipped from more than 3.6 million in early April to less than 2.5 million.

Workers carry biodegradable cardboard beds at a makeshift ward set up at Radha Soami Satsang Beas in south Delhi. Bloomberg

Health workers turn away an ambulance at the main entrance of Lok Nayak Jaiprakash Hospital in India's capital New Delhi. Bloomberg

Harsh Vardhan, India's health minister, inspects a Covid-19 centre in the capital city of New Delhi. India is now the global coronavirus hotspot, setting daily new records for the world's highest number of cases. Bloomberg

People carry oxygen cylinders after refilling them at a factory amid a surge in coronavirus cases in India's western city of Ahmedabad. Reuters

Workers prepare beds at a makeshift Covid-19 ward set up at Radha Soami Satsang Beas in south Delhi. Bloomberg

A man suffering from shortness of breath receives free oxygen inside his car at a gurudwara, Sikh temple, amid the spread of coronavirus, in northern Indian city of Ghaziabad. Reuters

A board indicates unavailability of beds at Lok Nayak Jaiprakash Hospital in India's capital New Delhi. Bloomberg

Relatives offer prayers before they bury the body of a Covid-19 victim in Guwahati, the capital of north-east Indian state Assam. AP Photo

A sign indicates unavailability of oxygen at the Covid-19 care centre set up at the Commonwealth Games Village Sports Complex in New Delhi. Bloomberg

A patient wearing an oxygen mask looks on as his wife holds a battery-operated fan as they wait inside an auto-rickshaw to enter a Covid-19 hospital, in western Indian city of Ahmedabad. Reuters

A man rides a bicycle through a deserted market area in the northern Indian city of Amritsar amid the lockdown imposed to prevent the spread of Covid-19. AFP

Health workers outside a Covid-19 ward set up at the Commonwealth Games Village Sports Complex in New Delhi. Bloomberg

Patients inside a Covid-19 ward set up at the Commonwealth Games Village Sports Complex in New Delhi. Bloomberg

In a positive development, India received its first batch of Sputnik V vaccines from Russia. Moscow signed a deal with an Indian pharmaceutical company to distribute 125 million doses.

Some experts warned that conducting a massive inoculation effort now could worsen the surge in a country that is second only to the US in its number of infections, at more than 19.1 million.

“There’s ample evidence that having people wait in a long, crowded, disorderly queue could itself be a source of infection,” said Dr Bharat Pankhania, a senior clinical lecturer specialising in infectious diseases at the UK's University of Exeter. He urged India to first stop the circulation of the virus by imposing “a long, sustained, strictly enforced lockdown”.