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How can India vaccinate its billion?

Despite being the world's biggest producer of vaccines, India is facing an acute shortage to meet domestic demand.

Earlier this month, India became the first country in the world to report more than 400,000 new coronavirus cases in a single day. And despite being the world's biggest producer of vaccines, the country is facing an acute shortage to meet domestic demand. All Indian adults are currently eligible for a shot, but there are just not enough vaccines to go around.

Access and affordability are two other significant challenges in inoculating a population as large as India's. Although the government is spending $5bn to provide free doses at state-run clinics and hospitals, not everyone is eligible, and the cost of a single shot has massively jumped at private hospitals.

What would it take for India to ramp up production and roll out a successful immunisation programme? In this edition of WorklifeIndia, we look at the road ahead as India tries to vaccinate its billion people.

Presenter: Devina Gupta

Contributors: Dr Sharvil Patel, managing director, Zydus Cadila; Dr Rachna Kucheria, epidemiologist, founder, DocGenie; Shyam Sunder, co-founder, Getjab.in

Available now

26 minutes

Last on

Sun 16 May 2021 04:32GMT

Image credit

People wait in line to receive a shot of the vaccine against Covid-19 on the roadside near a vaccination centre in Mumbai, India, 26 April 2021 (Credit: Divyakant Solanki/EPA)

Broadcasts

  • Fri 14 May 2021 14:32GMT
  • Sat 15 May 2021 10:32GMT
  • Sat 15 May 2021 23:32GMT
  • Sun 16 May 2021 04:32GMT

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