After reducing the gap between the second dose and the precautionary dose of the COVID-19 vaccine from nine to six months for adults, the government on Wednesday announced free booster shots for adults for the next 75 days. The measures were put in place as the pace of booster administration was lagging after a brisk start in January this year, when it was introduced. A comparison with comparable and neighbouring economies shows that India’s booster penetration was among the lowest. Only 3.6% of India’s population received booster shots as of July 13, whereas the world average was 27.4%. Strikingly, India’s progress in the administration of the first two doses was relatively better, with 65.5% of the population getting both shots, which is higher than the world average of 61.2%. A study of vaccine effectiveness from England has demonstrated that the efficacy of booster doses against hospitalisation among symptomatic cases with the Omicron variant increases to 92% from 64% (two doses) and 58% (one dose).
Consistently poor
The graph shows the number of precautionary vaccine shots administered weekly in India. In the week precautionary doses were introduced, 37 lakh doses were delivered. Since then, there has been a rapid decline. While the number of shots administered improved post-April, when another COVID-19 wave hit India, the initial peak was never surpassed
