Addressing the unvaccinated population of India

By Dr A.M Deshmukh

India began its Covid-19 vaccination campaign on January 16th last year with the aim of eradicating coronavirus in the country. In India, around 1.97 billion people have been vaccinated with the numbers increasing along with the rising number of cases. More than 88% adult population has been fully jabbed against Covid-19, as per the health minister Shri Mansukh Mandaviya. But still, India has a long journey to cover.

The COVID pandemic is most certainly not over, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has warned, despite a decline in reported cases since the peak of the omicron wave. Covid-19 cases are continuing to a spike in countries where vaccination rates are low, leading to a pandemic of the unvaccinated. During the third wave of Covid-19 in India, the unvaccinated population reported the maximum number of deaths, which was more than ninety percent. Also, the unvaccinated people pose a threat to those vaccinated against coronavirus despite high rates of immunization.

The divide between the vaccinated and unvaccinated when it comes to Covid is likely to become even deeper as time goes on. An increasing number of restrictions on those yet to receive a Covid shot are being introduced in various countries. The ease to work, travel, and socialize is increasingly determined by one’s Covid vaccination status. Government of India have so far resisted making Covid vaccination mandatory for their citizens, although they have introduced forms of vaccination certificates, that allow the vaccinated bearer more freedoms opportunities than the unvaccinated people.

Vaccines available in India are:

• Corbevax (is a recombinant protein sub-unit vaccine, which is made up of a specific part of SARS-CoV-2, that is, the spike protein on the virus’s surface),
• Covaxin (this vaccine is developed using whole-virion inactivated Vero cell derived platform technology),
• Covishield (made from a virus ChAdOx1, a weakened version of a common cold virus),
• Sputnik Light and Sputnik V (it is an adenoviral based, two-part vaccine against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus). Sputnik V demonstrates 97% efficacy against hospitalisation caused by omicron variant following revaccination with Sputnik light or Sputnik V according to a study which involved over 1.000 patients observed in Moscow.

It is evident that vaccines have played a very important role in protecting hundreds of lives. Vaccines has protected the country from a surge in the number of Covid cases. The first dose of the Covid vaccine is 98.9 percent effective in fighting Covid, and if both doses are given, it is 99.3 percent. Vaccines play a critical role in preventing deaths, and hospitalization caused by infectious diseases, and contribute to controlling the spread of the disease, thus their impact on infection and serious illness is significant.
Vaccination has been shown to contribute to reducing deaths and severe illness from COVID-19 and reduce the transmission of COVID-19. Vaccinating as many people as possible and reducing the spread of disease is important. Additionally, a recent report published in The Lancet tells us that COVID vaccines prevented1.98 crores out of a potential 3.14 crore COVID-19 deaths globally. Vaccination is the way forward. Let’s make sure that we stay safe and protect each other.

By: Dr. A.M Deshmukh, President, Microbiologist Society, India,

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