On December 22, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi claimed that the majority of India’s population is still not vaccinated. He used NDTV’s India’s Vaccination Equation to back his claim. According to NDTV, at the current rate, 42% of India’s population will be vaccinated by the end of December 2021. The target, according to the post, is to vaccinate 60% of the population by end of the year, which would require 61 million doses per day. NDTV said the dose per day rate is currently 5.8 million doses per day, and there is a shortfall of 55.3 million doses per day.
The actual vaccination data show different results
First of all, neither Rahul Gandhi nor NDTV included the fact in their calculations that India has yet to approve vaccination for people under the age of 18. Only those who have attained the age of 18 are eligible to get the vaccination for Covid-19.
According to The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), the estimated population of India as per 2020 data is around 137 crore (1,37,05,08,600). The number of people above the age of 18 stands at over 86 crore (86,54,56,491). That means 63% of the total population is eligible to get the vaccination shot. Even if we assume that the eligible population in the last year has increased by eight crores and round up the eligible population to 94 crores (which is according to a report in Hindustan Times), the eligible population would be 68%.
According to vaccination data available at the website of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, India has administered 1,38,95,90,670 doses of Covid-19 vaccines so far. The total number of people who have received both shots of the Covid-19 vaccine stands at 55,96,27,015. That means 59% of the total eligible population (assuming the eligible population is 94 crores) is fully vaccinated against the Covid-19 infection.
In addition to that, there are another 27,03,36,640 people who have been vaccinated with at least one shot and waiting for their second shot of the vaccine. If these 27 crores get the second shot within the next 30 days, by the end of January, almost 83 crore people in India would be fully vaccinated, which would be 88% of the total eligible population.
It is noteworthy that we have already fully vaccinated population equal to the total population (not eligible but total) of the United States (33 crores), Russia (14 crores) and United Kingdom (6 crores) put together.
The government’s stand on the booster shot
The government of India has recently made it clear that its priority is to fully vaccinate all eligible population before starting giving the booster shot, that too if required. India is currently administering 55 lakh+ doses every day. Out of these, on an ordinary 43 lakh, people are getting a second dose every day. At the current rate, India would add another four crore fully vaccinated people by the end of December that would make the total of around 60 crores fully vaccinated people. The tally would stand at 66%, which is 6% above the target that is supposed to be achieved to avoid the third wave of Covid-19 in India.
Therefore, Rahul Gandhi’s claim that the majority of India’s population is not vaccinated is false.
