The United Nations’ and the World Health Organization’s latest strategy aims to ensure that at least 40 per cent of the population of all countries are vaccinated by the end of 2021 and 70 per cent by mid-2022.
India has fully inoculated 23.6 per cent of its population so far and 52.6 per cent of its people have already received the first dose. Currently, around 59 lakh doses are being administered — on an average — every day in the country. If this pace is maintained, India would easily be able to fully vaccinate more than 40 per cent of its population before the end of 2021.
Because, per data from www.covid19.taskforce.com, a dashboard on Covid-related data collated from IMF, UNICEF, The World Bank, Gavi, WTO and WHO, based on the current average rate of daily vaccination, even at approximately 8.36 lakh doses per day, India would be able to fully vaccinate 40 per cent of India (assuming two doses of the vaccine, and estimates as on November 1).
Other emerging economies
When compared with other emerging economies, Brazil and China have inoculated a greater share of the population than India. Brazil, for instance, has fully vaccinated 55.3 per cent of its population and 74.4 per cent have received at least one dose. Likewise, China has fully vaccinated 74.1 per cent of its population and 76.2 per cent of its people have received at least one dose of the vaccine.
On the other hand, while Russia has fully inoculated 32.6 per cent of its population — which is higher than India’s numbers, the share of the population that has received only one dose is only 38 per cent. South Africa’s figures are the lowest when compared to the other four countries — it has completely vaccinated only 20.5 per cent of its population and only 25.5 per cent of its people have received one dose.
To take the Covid vaccination targets a step further, if India has to fully vaccinate at least 70 per cent of its population by mid-2022, it has to administer at least 36.2 lakh doses a day, which is much higher than the pace required for countries such as Brazil, Russia and South Africa. However, if India's current pace of 55 lakh doses every day is maintained, achieving this goal should be a piece of cake.
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