As Omicron looms, large swathes of India still remain unvaccinated

India has fully vaccinated more than half its eligible population but behind the countrywide averages, inequities persist, particularly in poorer and tribal-dominated districts

Ever since South Africa announced on November 25, 2021 that it had detected the new, highly mutated B.1.1.529 variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid-19, public health institutions have underscored the importance of vaccination to combat the new variant.

In India, nearly 38% of the total population is fully immunised and 60% have received at least one dose of the vaccination by December 10, 2021. But in this continent-sized country with a population currently greater than that of the entire African continent, vaccine inequities are stark--districts within the same state have a vast gap between their vaccination levels, and rural