50% adults given at least one dose: India's vaccination progress in 5 charts

NEW DELHI: India on Thursday crossed the landmark milestone of administering at least one dose of Covid vaccine to 50% of its adult population.
Overall, nearly 61 crore doses have been administered out of the roughly 188 crore needed to fully inoculate the entire adult population of around 94 crore.
The latest milestone will come as a shot in the arm for India's nationwide vaccination programme, which is among the largest inoculation exercises in the world.

But where does India stand in terms of fully vaccinating all adults? Is the government likely meet its ambitious target of universal adult coverage by the end of this year? Here's a look ...
Vaccinations in high gear
India's vaccination programme got off to a muted started with only healthcare & frontline workers eligible for the anti-Covid shots. The programme was subsequently expanded to include various vulnerable groups.
Since May 1, all those who are 18 and above are eligible for Covid vaccine shots. This brought roughly 94 crore to the vaccination ambit. The number is expected to rise further when Zydus Cadilla rolls out its vaccine for 12+ children, most likely in October.

The pace of India's vaccination drive picked up in June with availability of more doses and centralised procurement coming in force.
Notably, India's dose administration rate was around 18 lakh per day before June 21. However, since June 21 till now, it has gone up to almost half a crore per day.
The leading states

A quick glance at the state-wise figures shows that the vaccination rate is rather uneven across states.
The most populous state of Uttar Pradesh has managed to administer at least one dose to 38% of adults. On the other hand, a sparsely populated state like Himachal Pradesh has given single dose to nearly every adult.
Though currently the worst-hit state in terms of new cases, Kerala has done rather well when it comes to vaccination coverage. It has administered at least one dose to nearly 3 in 4 adults.
Meanwhile, other badly-affected states like Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu remain below the national trend as they are yet to administer at least one dose to half of their adult population.
But is it enough?
While India administering one dose of Covid vaccine to 50% of adults is a laudable achievement, the vaccination programme won't be successful until both doses are administered.
Herein lies a couple of problems.
Recently, figures revealed that nearly 1.6 crore of Indians missed their scheduled second dose of vaccine.
A lag in the vaccination process or large number of individuals missing their second dose altogether is worrying for a nation that just came out of a deadly second Covid wave.

So far, just under 15% of adults have been fully vaccinated against Covid.
The government wants to cover all the adults by December 31 - an ambitious target considering it would need nearly 200 crore doses to achieve it. It has so far ordered just about half of the required doses.

Moreover, despite an uptick in the pace of vaccination, India at its current rate is way off target.

If we go by the average of the last 15 days, India will manage to cover 72% of its adults by the end of this year. At this rate, all adults won't be fully vaccinated until March 2022.
Where India stands globally
The second most populated country in the world, India is way behind when compared to countries like US and UK in terms of coverage.

Overall, India has administered more doses than each of these countries. On Friday itself, it administered enough doses to cover the entire population of Israel.
But relative to its population, India has administered just 43 doses per 100 people.
Canada, UK, US, Germany and Italy are way ahead due to the low size of their population compared to India.
However, with the pace of vaccination accelerating further (85 lakh daily doses in last three days), it won't be long before India catches up with these countries.