Therapy Areas: Vaccines
India's COVID-19 vaccine rate declines as dose gap increased amid increased vaccine output
18 October 2021 -

Data from the health ministry of India has revealed that the country's vaccination campaign has slowed despite amassing record stock of COVID-19 vaccines, Reuters news agency reported on Monday.

This comes as authorities maintain a wider-than-usual gap between doses in a strategy that has boosted coverage.

The gap, exceeding the eight to 12 weeks recommended by the World Health Organisation, has reportedly allowed India to give at least one vaccine dose to 74% of its 944 million adults, with just 30% getting the full complement of two.

Domestic production of the AstraZeneca (LON:AZN) COVID-19 vaccine, which accounts for nearly 90% of administered doses, has more than tripled since May 2021, when a supply shortage prompted India to double the period between doses to between 12 and 16 weeks.

The AstraZeneca vaccine, known as Covishield, accounts for 861 million doses of India's total injected figure of 977.6 million, while its other main vaccine, Covaxin has a dose interval of four to six weeks.

Health ministry figures indicate that over the last few days, daily stocks of all COVID-19 vaccines have exceeded 100 million doses for states and federally controlled territories taken together.

In contrast, daily vaccinations have dropped to an average of five million doses this month and even less in the past week, off a daily peak of 25 million last month.

According to the ministry, it followed recommendations from a group of experts in making any changes to dosage, arrived at by weighing up "scientific and empirical" evidence.

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