The second most populous country in the world is now the second country to administer over two billion COVID vaccine doses

Eighteen months since India kicked off the largest vaccination drive, the country has administered over two billion COVID doses. The journey has been long, and yet not complete.

Kruxd looks at the trends of inoculating the second most populous country in the world.

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The milestones

India’s COVID vaccination drive began on Jan, 16, 2021, three months before the ravaging second wave of infections.

On May 5, 2021, daily cases crossed 400,000. There were 2,442,854 inoculations when the country ran into the deadly second COVID wave, leading to thousands of deaths. At the peak of the wave, an average of three thousand people died a day.

But the ongoing vaccination at the rate of 4,335,491 daily jabs made a redeeming difference. By July, the cases had dropped 86 percent.

How have the states performed

In India’s capital Delhi, 81 percent of the population, comprising 18 million people have been jabbed through 15,415,863 inoculations. In order to fully vaccinate the entire population, Delhi will have to administer 2,379,517 more doses. The capital stands eighth in the country on double vaccinations.

Different COVID vaccines

Until the end of June 2021, only two vaccines – Covaxin and Covishield – were predominant in the fight against COVID-19. Russian-made Sputnik V was imported in July 2021, followed by Corbevax and Novavax in 2022. However, the latter two have not seen rollout at all.

With 194 vaccines currently in the preclinical stage and 23 vaccines being administered to the population around the world, only four vaccines managed to get approved in India.

How many more doses are required to cover the entire population?

As of July 25, 2022, India has administered a total of 1,949,175,987 first and second doses. So far only 67.4 percent of the population has been fully vaccinated and 73.9 percent of the population has received the first dose. India will need to administer 1,784,400,688 more doses to fully vaccinate.