NEW DELHI/SATARA: Urban Indians are getting COVID-19 shots much faster than the hundreds of millions of people living in the countryside, government data shows, reflecting rising inequity in the nation's immunisation drive.
In 114 of India's least developed districts - collectively home to about 176 million people - authorities have administered just 23 million doses in total.
That's the same number of doses as have been administered across nine major cities -- New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, Thane and Nagpur -- which combined have half the population of the least developed districts.
The disparity was even stronger last month, after the government allowed private sales of vaccines for adults aged under 45 years, an offer which favoured residents of cities with larger private hospital networks. For the first four weeks of May, those nine cities gave 16% more doses than the combined rural districts, data from the government's Co-WIN vaccination portal shows.
"My friends from the city were vaccinated at private hospitals," said Atul Pawar, a 38-year-old farmer from Satara, a rural western district of Maharashtra, India's wealthiest state. "I am ready to pay, but doses are not available and district borders are sealed because of the lockdown."
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said in a statement on Saturday that reports of vaccine inequity in India were "inaccurate and speculative in nature".
"Liberalised pricing and accelerated national COVID-19 vaccination strategy ensures vaccine equity," it said, adding that smaller cities were also getting doses like the big ones.
The ministry said it had asked states with fewer private hospitals to review the status of their vaccination campaigns and encourage some government-empanelled hospitals to strike deals with vaccine companies if need be.
India has administered more than 222 million doses since starting its campaign in mid-January - only China and the United States have administered more - but it has given the required two doses to less than 5% of its 950 million adults.
Rural India is home to more than two-thirds of the country's 1.35 billion people. While urban areas account for a disproportionately large share of the confirmed COVID-19 cases, those concerned about the spread of the virus in the countryside say statistics undercount cases in villages, where testing is less comprehensive.
The health system in several regions in India collapsed in April and May as the country reported the world's biggest jump in coronavirus infections, increasing pressure on the immunisation programme.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government offers vaccines to vulnerable people, healthcare workers and those aged over 45 for free. Since last month, individual states have also been expected to procure vaccines for younger adults, or to provide them commercially through the private sector.
Poorer states say this leaves their residents more vulnerable. The eastern state of Jharkhand, where nearly all districts are categorised as poor, this week urged Modi to give it free vaccines for all age groups.
In many states the doses for those under 45 are available mostly or entirely in urban areas. Some officials say this is intentional, as the infection spreads more easily in crowded cities.
"It's because of high-positivity" in urban areas, said Bijay Kumar Mohapatra, health director of the eastern state of Odisha, explaining the state's decision to prioritise cities.
Major international and domestic firms such as Microsoft, Pepsi, Amazon, Reliance Industries, Adani Group and Tata Motors have organised inoculations for their employees, in many cases in partnership with private hospitals. Most of these companies and the huge private hospitals that serve them are located in urban centres.
Vaccination rates in rural areas have also been depressed because of patchier internet access to use the complex online system for signing up for shots, and possibly because of greater hesitancy among villagers than among city dwellers.
"LUCRATIVE DEALS"
India's Supreme Court criticised the government's handling of the vaccination programme this week and ordered it to provide a breakdown of shots given in rural and urban areas.
"Private hospitals are not equally spread out" across the country and "are often limited to bigger cities with large populations", the top court said in its order dated May 31.
"As such, a larger quantity will be available in such cities, as opposed to the rural areas," it said. Private hospitals may prefer to sell doses "for lucrative deals directly to private corporations who wish to vaccinate their employees".
Dr. Rajib Dasgupta, head of the Centre of Social Medicine and Community Health at New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University, said the risk of inequity was that parts of India would build up immunity disproportionately.
"It can leave the rural population relatively more vulnerable."
Reuters
Mon Jun 07 2021
Suresh Kumar, 43, ties up the hair of his wife Pramila Devi, 36, who is suffering from the COVID-19, before taking her to a local government dispensary, at their home in Kaljikhal, in the northern state of Uttarakhand, India. REUTERSpic
SOP keselamatan haji TH ikut ISO 9001 2015
Prosedur Operasi Standard (SOP) yang disediakan Lembaga Tabung Haji (TH) berkaitan aspek keselamatan jemaah semasa di tanah suci adalah berlandaskan sistem pengurusan ISO 9001 2025 perkhidmatan haji yang perlu dipatuhi jemaah apabila berdepan kejadian luar jangka seperti insiden kren tumbang dan rempuhan di mina sebelum ini.
Ribuan peserta berarak di ibu kota Kuala Lumpur
Acara yang berlangsung sekitar satu jam itu menyaksikan para peserta berarak sepanjang jalan di Bukit Bintang sebelum berpatah balik ke Pavilion, Kuala Lumpur.
Malaysia jadi Negara Contoh ‘Best Practice’ perkembangan AI
Pada sidang 'planery' bagi Sesi Peringkat Tinggi, mesyuarat tersebut turut menyifatkan Malaysia sebagai antara negara Komanwel yang berada di hadapan dalam membangunkan transformasi digital dan AI.
Tawar diskaun 40 peratus belian barangan keperluan perniagaan
Beban peniaga makanan menyediakan Menu Rahmah berikutan kenaikan harga barang boleh diatasi, apabila mereka memohon dan menggunakan kad diskaun khas Menu Rahmah
Timbalan Menteri Perdagangan Dalam Negeri dan Kos Sara Hidup Fuziah Salleh berkata ini kerana kad diskaun khas itu menawarkan pembelian barang keperluan perniagaan dengan diskaun sehingga 40 peratus.
Timbalan Menteri Perdagangan Dalam Negeri dan Kos Sara Hidup Fuziah Salleh berkata ini kerana kad diskaun khas itu menawarkan pembelian barang keperluan perniagaan dengan diskaun sehingga 40 peratus.
987 bayi didiagnosis masalah pendengaran pada 2023
Seramai 987 daripada 253,822 bayi yang disaring menerusi Program Saringan Pendengaran Bayi Universal (UNHS) pada 2023 didiagnosis mengalami masalah pendengaran, kata Menteri Kesihatan Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad.
PM Anwar saksikan pertukaran 6 MoU antara Malaysia dan Uzbekistan
MoU itu antaranya melibatkan Perbadanan Pembangunan Perdagangan Luar Malaysia (MATRADE) dengan Dewan Perdagangan dan Industri Uzbekistan (CCIU) sebagai usaha mengukuhkan dan membangunkan kerjasama promosi perdagangan antara Malaysia dan Uzbekistan serta pertukaran maklumat perdagangan.
Berita tempatan pilihan sepanjang hari ini
Berikut adalah berita yang paling menjadi tumpuan sepanjang Sabtu, 18 Mei 2024.
Berita antarabangsa pilihan sepanjang hari ini
Antara pelbagai berita luar negara yang disiarkan di Astro AWANI, berikut adalah antara yang paling menjadi tumpuan sepanjang hari ini.
Piala Dunia Sepak Takraw: Malaysia tewaskan China acara regu
Malaysia memulakan aksi Kumpulan B acara regu kategori premier Kejohanan Piala Dunia Sepak Takraw 2024 dengan langkah kanan selepas menewaskan China di Stadium Titiwangsa di sini hari ini.
Selangor tewaskan KDA FC 1-0, bergema 'siu' di MBPJ
Jaringan tunggal Aliff Haiqal Lokman Hakim Lau menyaksikan Selangor FC memulakan saingan Liga Super 2024/2025 dengan cemerlang, apabila meraih tiga mata penuh selepas menewaskan KDA FC 1-0.
12 terbunuh dipanah petir di Bengal Barat, India
Sekurang-kurangnya 12 orang terbunuh dan beberapa lagi mangsa cedera pada Khamis akibat dipanah petir di Bengal Barat, di timur India.
14 maut, puluhan cedera dalam runtuhan papan iklan di India
Sekurang-kurangnya 14 terbunuh dan berpuluh-puluh lagi cedera pada Isnin selepas papan iklan tumbang semasa cuaca buruk di ibu kota kewangan India, Mumbai.
Mahkamah Agung India bebaskan Ketua Menteri Delhi dengan jaminan sementara
Kejriwal ditahan Direktorat Penguatkuasaan pada 21 Mac berkaitan siasatan rasuah yang melibatkan dasar penjualan alkohol di Delhi.
Berita antarabangsa pilihan sepanjang hari ini
Antara pelbagai berita luar negara yang disiarkan di Astro AWANI, berikut adalah antara yang paling menjadi tumpuan sepanjang hari ini.
9 maut dalam letupan kilang bunga api di selatan India
Letupan berlaku berhampiran Sivakasi di daerah Virudhunagar, kira-kira 550 km dari ibu negeri Chennai.
KJ dilantik salah seorang pengarah di Fischer Medical Ventures Ltd
Khairy dilantik atas kapasiti Pengarah Bebas Syarikat untuk tempoh lima tahun bermula 4 Mei 2024.
Institusi pendidikan di Kerala, India ditutup susulan gelombang haba
Pihak kerajaan tempatan di negeri selatan India, Kerala pada Khamis mengarahkan penutupan institusi pendidikan di sana sehingga 6 Mei ini berikutan keadaan cuaca yang amat panas, lapor Xinhua.
PRK KKB: MIPP jamin PN akan terima undi terbesar kaum India
Punithan berkata, pihak lawan dilihat mula menunjukkan kebimbangan dan rasa takut dengan kekuatan yang dimiliki PN ketika ini.
Parti politik India perhebat dekati pengundi, bagi pusingan pertama pilihan raya kebangsaan
Modi berkata kerajaannya terus berusaha untuk pembangunan ekonomi wilayah timur laut itu.
Pakistan sambut Aidilfitri hari ini, Bangladesh dan India rai Khamis
Umat Islam di Pakistan dan Sri Lanka meraikan Aidilfitri pada Rabu manakala mereka yang berada di Bangladesh dan sebahagian besar India akan menyambut perayaan itu Khamis.