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In the devastating months since the beginning of the year, the success of the vaccination campaign has been attributed to the reduction of coronavirus cases.
India celebrated its 1 billionth Covid-19 vaccination on Thursday, which is a promising milestone for the South Asian country. The country’s delta variants drove a massive surge earlier this year, while the initial Mistakes hindered its vaccination activities.
According to our data world, about half of the nearly 1.4 billion people in India have received at least one dose of the vaccine, and about 20% are fully immunized. Many of these vaccines were carried out in the past few months. Because of the shortage of vaccines and problems in the promotion system, the promotion work stagnated in the first half of this year.
Since the devastating month at the beginning of the year, the success of the campaign is believed to have reduced coronavirus cases, when India recorded hundreds of thousands of infections every day, hospitals were overwhelmed under pressure, crematoriums and cemeteries were overwhelmed. But experts warned that India must speed up the delivery of the second shot to ensure that the epidemic will not break out again.
The country has expanded the injection interval from 12 to 16 weeks to allow more first doses to be given when supplies are limited and infections are proliferating. Countries such as the United Kingdom have adopted this strategy during times of crisis. But it has caused a lag in getting people to get complete immunity.
India is using a vaccine that requires two doses. The country’s Covid-19 task force leader VK Paul said last week that increasing the second dose is “an important priority”.
“We want to see this number rise. Full coverage is absolutely crucial,” Paul said.
Currently, the country seems to have enough vaccines to do this-but its supply will be closely watched because it is the main global supplier of vaccines. When it stopped exports in April due to a surge in domestic cases, it had a devastating effect on poorer countries that depended heavily on Indian doses. Exports resumed earlier this month.
The government is now optimistic that the country’s increasing supply of vaccines will be sufficient to cover its international and domestic commitments. Paul said that both major suppliers have increased their production. The Serum Institute of India now produces about 220 million doses per month and Bharat Biotech about 30 million doses.
However, experts say that the vaccine situation needs to be constantly reviewed. K. Srinath Reddy, President of the Public Health Foundation of India, said: “There is no hard and fast rule-if the infection rate rises sharply, they can stop exporting again until there is a sufficient dose.”
On Thursday, India confirmed more than 18,400 new cases and 160 deaths-far below the worst day in May when the daily death toll exceeded 4,000. According to the Ministry of Health, overall, the country has recorded about 34 million infections and more than 450,000 deaths, although these numbers, like elsewhere, may be underestimated.
Even states where the number of infections surged a few weeks ago, such as Kerala along the tropical Malabar coast, has seen a steady decline.
Reddy said: “India has suffered the most serious delta variant, which is gratifying, but this must be accompanied by a sense of caution.” “Even if the number of cases increases, we are unlikely to see the scale of the surge earlier- If it did happen, it would be quite unexpected.”
India earlier stated that its goal is to vaccinate all eligible adults by the end of the year, but experts say that the current rate of immunization needs to be accelerated to achieve this goal, although it has increased substantially. Although the campaign started in January, by mid-June, only about 3.5% of the population had been fully vaccinated.
India celebrated the achievement of 1 billion shooting with great fanfare on Thursday-although this is not surprising because it is the second most populous country in the world. The first country to reach this milestone, China is the most populous country.
Billboards announcing the feat with photos of Prime Minister Narendra Modi were posted all over New Delhi. Outside the house of a local politician in the capital, residents gathered to distribute candies. A song and movie commemorating this moment have been released, and the Indian flag is unfolded in the historic Red Fort in New Delhi.
In recent months, life in India has returned to normal. The market is very lively, after 19 months of interruption, foreign tourists are allowed to enter again, and the country is preparing to celebrate the Hindu festival of lights, Diwali.
But some people worry that this may be the calm before the storm. Although India may have been the first to be affected by delta variants, the situation may escalate quickly if new variants emerge—whether from domestic or foreign sources.
“If the virus becomes different or mutates, it will change the dynamics. This may change everything,” Paul said.
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