The Union health ministry announced that a total of 20,29, 424 health workers had been administered COVID-19 vaccines nationwide by Tuesday evening, less than two weeks after the nationwide drive began. The government had announced the first phase of vaccinations will be aimed at inoculating 3 crore health workers and frontline personnel, after which other vulnerable sections of the population would be targeted.
However, a study by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has warned that vaccination programmes in countries such as China and India could stretch until late 2022, given the larges populations there. The EIU study also noted more than 85 poor nations will not have widespread vaccine access before 2023.
A graph of a forecast of vaccination timelines shared by Simon Baptist, chief economist of the Economist Intelligence Unit, on Twitter showed that ‘widespread vaccination’ (covering more than 60 per cent of population) is expected in India by the 4th quarter of 2022, while Singapore and Taiwan are predicted to achieve widespread vaccination by 4th quarter of 2021. The Economist Intelligence Unit forecast China could reach the goal of widespread vaccination by third quarter of 2022. Pakistan is expected to reach the goal of widespread vaccination by third quarter of 2024.
Reuters quoted Agathe Demarais, director of the Economist Intelligence Unit, as saying, “Most developing countries will not have widespread access to the shots before 2023 at the earliest... Some of these countries—particularly poorer ones with a young demographic profile—may well lose the motivation to distribute vaccines, especially if the disease has spread widely or if the associated costs prove too high.”
