* India reaches milestone after slow start in mid-January
* Huge disparity between partly and fully vaccinated people
* WHO, UNICEF congratulate India, urge it to resume COVAX
supplies
(Adds graphics, UNICEF comment)
By Krishna N. Das
NEW DELHI, Oct 21 (Reuters) - India celebrated the milestone
of administering 1 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses on Thursday,
with the government promoting the achievement in song and video
even as a recent drop in inoculations worries healthcare
providers.
After a slow beginning in the middle of January, India's
immunisation campaign has covered three-quarters of its 944
million adults with at least one dose but only 31% with two. The
government wants all adults to get vaccinated this year.
"India scripts history," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said
on Twitter. "We are witnessing the triumph of Indian science,
enterprise and collective spirit of (1.3 billion) Indians."
Modi marked the occasion by interacting with healthcare
workers and a security guard at a government hospital in New
Delhi. The health ministry announced musical and other
programmes across the country, and special illuminations of
national monuments including a colonial-era jail.
Nearly 90% of the vaccines administered in India have come
from the Serum Institute of India (SII), which produces a
licensed version of the AstraZeneca drug. SII has more
than tripled its capacity since April and can now produce 220
million vaccine doses a month.
SII has also slowly resumed exports for the first time since
April, when the government stopped all overseas sales to meet
domestic demand as infections rose dramatically.
The World Health Organization (WHO), which relies heavily on
India for supplies to its global vaccine-sharing platform COVAX,
congratulated the country for reaching the landmark.
"India's progress must be viewed in the context of the
country's commendable commitment and efforts to ensure that
these life-saving vaccines are accessible globally," said Poonam
Khetrapal Singh, regional director WHO South-East Asia.
COVAX partner UNICEF also congratulated India and said it
looked forward to "hearing details about the expected timeline
and volumes of supplies to be made" to the global facility.
Reuters has reported that India has delayed supplies of the
AstraZeneca vaccine to COVAX https://www.reuters.com/world/india/india-delays-covid-19-vaccine-supplies-who-backed-covax-sources-say-2021-10-19.
New Delhi has been annoyed by the WHO's repeated delay in
adding India's own Covaxin shot to the world body's
emergency-use listing https://twitter.com/DrTedros/status/1450574012027920402,
something both parties discussed this week as well as exports.
India has so far reported 34.1 million COVID-19 cases and
more than 452,000 deaths, most during a second wave of
infections of the Delta variant between April and May.
A "sizeable number https://www.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-india/many-indians-skipping-second-covid-shot-despite-record-vaccine-stocks-idUSL4N2RF2G3
" of people in India have not taken their second dose by the due
date despite adequate supplies, the health ministry said on
Tuesday, as new infections fell to their lowest since early
March.
Daily shots have averaged 5 million this month, a fifth of
September's peak, though states are sitting on record stocks of
more than 100 million as domestic output of the AstraZeneca
vaccine soars.
Despite the current low number of infections, ministry
officials have been urging people to get vaccinated fast,
especially as the ongoing festival season means family
gatherings and mass shopping, raising the risk of a new wave of
infections.
(Reporting by Krishna N. Das; Editing by Lincoln Feast and
Giles Elgood)
Astrazeneca (AZN)
