Covid-19: How India’s vaccination drive fell short of its target

The national vaccine committee headed by Dr VK Paul had set the target in November 2020 to inoculate 30 crore Indians in the priority groups by July 2021. The vaccination drive required 60 crore doses of Covid vaccine. The target included over 27 crore citizens above the age of 50 with co-morbidities, two crore frontline workers, and one crore healthcare workers. However, according to the government data, so far only 19.5 crore doses have been administered to the priority group. Of these, 15.48 crore doses were administered to those above 45 years of age, 1.67 core doses to healthcare workers, and 2.42 crore to frontline worker. The general adult population, who were earlier not part of the vaccination drive, have received 2.03 crore doses of Covid vaccine so far.