India Reaches 1 Billion Mark in COVID-19 Vaccination

India's vaccination drive reached a historic milestone of having administered 1 billion vaccine doses on 21 October 2021. Around 75 percent of Indians above 18 years of age have received their first dose, while 30 percent have received two doses each.

India achieved the milestone of 1 billion total vaccinations in less than 40 weeks since the COVID-19 vaccination was launched on 16 January 2021. Preparations for the fight against coronavirus started much earlier in early 2020 with the establishment of the National Task Force for Focussed Research on Corona Vaccine in April 2021.

Reaching the 1 billion mark in COVID vaccination underlines India's prowess in development of new vaccines, production of vaccines and managing large-scale vaccination drive using effective mass communication strategies and digital technology.

Today India is among the few countries that have developed vaccines across multiple platforms. The vaccines developed and produced in India include 'Covaxin' - an inactivated virus platform vaccine; 'Covishield' - a viral vector vaccine developed with Oxford and Astra-Zeneca; and a one-of-its-kind DNA vaccine, 'Zycov-d' developed by Zydus Cadila.

Nearly all of the 1 billion doses of vaccines administered in India have been made in India, except for a minuscule proportion of Sputnik vaccine. More than 95 per cent of the vaccines were delivered by the public health system through the private healthcare entities also pitched in the vaccination drive.

To organize the gargantuan task of vaccinating one of the largest population in the world spread over a large area, India has developed a unique digital platform, called CoWIN that made it possible to register the beneficiaries, schedule their vaccination, generate QR...