FAQ’s on Covid vaccinations

Currently in India, the vaccination drive is only for people above 45+. About 3 percent of India’s population has been fully vaccinated with the two doses of vaccine. There are 9.2 percent of the people who have received at least one dose of the vaccine. Once there are sufficient vaccines in supply, the remaining population will be vaccinated.

In the beginning, the Indian government had announced for people above the age of 45 being eligible for the vaccination. The vaccination drive has 2 doses. On May 1st, 2021, the vaccination was made available to the 18+ age group. But due to shortage of the vaccine in India, the 18+ drive had to be stopped. So currently India is inoculating people above 45.

The vaccine drive for the 18+ was stopped due to an insufficient supply of the vaccinations. There was excess demand and not enough vaccines to support these drives. Now, they are focusing on vaccinating the 45+ population in totality.

The government has extended the time interval between the two doses of vaccine from six weeks to eight weeks for the 45+ age category. In the interim, the government has asked to increase the production of vaccines and meet the demand with sufficient supply. Once this is achieved, the vaccination drive for 18+ age categories will be reopened.

The health ministry of the Indian government said that the active covid cases in India have been declining while the number of recovered patients has increased. As the rate of infection is increasing, the testing drives for covid virus infection are also increasing.

Recent reports about the Indian covid cases suggest that the daily positivity rate dropped to 16.98 percent. The union health ministry also said that the declining trend in the positivity rate is observed and that 10 states in India account for 70.94 percent of the new recoveries.

The number of positive cases and death rate of the covid patients is likely to be higher than the count provided by the authorities. Many deaths in rural areas are unregistered so we are unable to track down the count of the exact death toll.

The average rate of death is 4,077 per day. The death rate had increased due to the lack of oxygen cylinders, beds, and other medical problems in the hospitals. However, now that situation is being taken care of with a sufficient supply of medical facilities.

As of now, India is battling with the second wave of coronavirus. Experts have predicted the possibility of a third wave, however, nothing is confirmed. Several countries have already witnessed the fourth wave of Covid-19.

Experts say that the third wave is inevitable given the higher levels of circulating virus but it is not clear on what time scale this phase three will occur. The experts advised that the only way to reduce this vulnerability was through maintaining safety precautions and vaccination.

India is the second most affected country in the world. Due to the second wave of coronavirus, there is a rapid increase in positive cases and deaths in India. Many states are affected due to this pandemic situation.

Listing the most affected states of India;

Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, and Delhi have suffered more than the others. Among all these states Maharashtra tops the list of most Coronavirus–affected states in India with the highest number of active cases and deaths due to covid 19.

According to the current rate, India will take 2.5 years to vaccinate 75% of its population. As of now, the government is providing vaccines only for people above age 45 only 3 percent of the population has been vaccinated.

The shortage of vaccines is one of the reasons behind the delayed timelines. The two main vaccine manufacturers of the covid vaccine are Covishieled and Covaxin. India has also allowed the import of foreign-made vaccines such as Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson, and even recently the Russian vaccine Sputnik V has also been approved for emergency use.