India’s Vaccination Data Comparison Flawed Due to Population Size: Sources
New Delhi: India’s massive population has not been considered in the latest WHO and UNICEF estimates of national immunization coverage, leading to a flawed comparison with 19 other countries, official sources have said.
Despite having the second-highest number of zero-dose children globally, India accounts for only 0.11 percent of the country’s total population, according to Union Health Ministry sources. They emphasized that India is dedicated to reducing the number of zero-dose children.
The WUENIC data, released on Monday, indicated that nearly 1.6 million children in India did not receive any vaccine in 2023, second only to Nigeria with 2.1 million zero-dose children. However, this comparison fails to consider the base population, making it inaccurate, a source explained.
India’s rank has improved since 2021 when it had the highest number of zero-dose children globally at 2.73 million. Sources pointed out that India’s antigen-wise coverage is better than the world average for all antigens in 2023.
For instance, India’s DPT1 (a proxy for zero-dose) coverage is 93 percent, compared to the global average of 89 percent, making India 4 percent better. Similarly, India’s DPT3 (a proxy for under-vaccinated) coverage is 91 percent, while the global average is 84 percent, making India 7 percent better. Furthermore, India’s MCV1 coverage is 92 percent compared to the global average of 83 percent, putting India 10 percent ahead.
Efforts are ongoing to reach zero-dose children through a special plan currently under implementation, according to health ministry sources.
In the WUENIC data, India is followed by Ethiopia, Congo, Sudan, Indonesia, Yemen, Afghanistan, Angola, Pakistan, Somalia, Vietnam, Madagascar, Mexico, South Africa, Mali, DPRK, China, Guinea, and Myanmar. These 20 countries were prioritized based on their number of zero-dose children in 2021 as part of the Immunization Agenda 2030. China ranks 18th, while Pakistan is 10th.
Among the countries ranked by the number of zero-dose children from 2021 to 2023, India tops the list with 1.59 million zero-dose children.
The World Health Organization has urged countries in the Southeast Asia region to strengthen efforts at all levels, using tailored approaches at sub-national levels, to identify and immunize unvaccinated and under-vaccinated children.
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