Daily vaccination rates in India surge two-fold amid global Covid scare

This despite an infection rate of about 150-200 cases a day; Vaccine makers say there are sufficient stocks to meet rising demand

The surge in Covid-19 cases globally, led by an Omicron sub-lineage BF.7, has boosted India’s vaccination uptick in the past few days. While infections in the country have not risen and are averaging at 150-200 cases a day, the fear of catching Covid-19 has led to doubling of daily vaccination rates.

Vaccine makers say there are sufficient stocks to meet the rising demand.

For the first 20 days of December, the average daily vaccination in the country was 42,591 doses. Ever since the government issued an advisory, that number has almost doubled to 82,113. On December 23-24, total daily vaccinations were over 100,000.

While cases in the country have not risen, fears of a Covid wave have sent people looking for booster doses. Precautionary dose administration in the country had dipped below 25,000 a day in the early weeks of December, but has now climbed back to over 50,000 doses.

But it isn't just the booster doses--demand for second doses has also picked up. From below 12,000 daily, second dose administration jumped to 16,152 (seven-day average) by December 26.

While India has vaccinated 97 per cent of people aged 12 and above, second dose administration has been 90 per cent. Just over 27 per cent of the population has been administered a booster.

If there is a rise in demand, will India have sufficient vaccine stocks?

Vaccine makers say there are stocks to cater to any rise in demand. Sources at Serum Institute of India (SII) indicated that the company has about 20 million doses of Covishield – the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine – in stock. “We are now also producing the Novavax vaccine – named Covovax in India. So far, we've been exporting this vaccine primarily, and have already sent millions of doses to the US. We have stocks for India as well,” the source added.

He further added that SII has applied to the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) seeking approval for Covovax as a heterologous (mix-and-match) booster dose. If this comes through, there will be sufficient stocks to supply in the market in case of a sustained surge in demand.

Meanwhile, Bharat Biotech said on Tuesday that it will be launching its nasal Covid-19 vaccine, which is already approved as a mix-and-match booster shot, in the fourth week of January. This vaccine would be priced Rs 800 per dose for the private market, and can be administered easily as a nasal drop.

Hospitals have not seen a surge for paid vaccines, but queries for the needle-less nasal type have started to trickle in.

Joy Chakraborty, COO of Mumbai’s 400-bed PD Hinduja Hospital, told Business Standard the hospital is receiving queries for the nasal vaccine already. Dilip Jose, MD & CEO, Manipal Hospitals, India’s second largest chain of private hospitals, said, “We haven't seen any perceptible increase yet. Will wait a week or so more to assess.”

The two major vaccine makers, SII and Bharat Biotech, have seen hundreds of millions of vaccine doses expire since September, thanks to low demand. SII had seen almost 100 million doses expire, while around November Bharat Biotech had about 50 million doses of Covaxin that were set to expire by early 2023.

Bharat Biotech has over 200 million doses of Covaxin in bulk form, which can be converted into formulations in vials.

Both SII and Bharat Biotech had stopped producing Covishield and Covaxin long back due to lack of demand. They are now focusing on Covovax and nasal vaccines as heterologous booster doses.