India’s COVID-19 vaccination journey under Government of India’s leadership has demonstrated strong political will, innovation, commitment, and successful collaboration by administering over 220 crore doses — which resulted in around 90 per cent of eligible beneficiaries receiving both doses. The journey reiterated India’s ability to not just ensure sufficient vaccine manufacturing, but also ensure that such capacity translates into high vaccine uptake. Several challenges such as mis- and disinformation, supply chain disruptions, the digital divide, and social and geographical barriers were overcome to reach unprecedented vaccine coverage. Particularly, India leveraged its historical experience of implementing the Universal Immunisation Programme and specialised campaigns such as Mission Indradhanush and adapted it to the pandemic context. At the heart of this lies a strategy that India has deployed consistently and effectively in the past — engagement and mobilisation of the broader community into action. Government led campaigns such as ‘Har Ghar Dastak’ aimed to raise awareness and mobilise the community by going door-to-door to ensure high vaccine uptake. This illustrated the government’s belief in a whole-of-society approach to overcome challenges and align with the Amrit Mahotsav campaign – a nationwide initiative to convert citizen participation into a 'Jan Andolan'. Every individual can contribute to this movement for better vaccine coverage, and that’s the essence of Jan Bhagidari as envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. As part of such an approach, crisis management groups (CMGs) at all levels of governance were constituted in some states, which empowered healthcare workers at the grassroots to manage the COVID crisis and encourage public participation. Partnerships were also forged with religious leaders, local businesses, teachers, and technical experts among others, that resulted in galvanising the citizens around the issue of optimum COVID-19 vaccine coverage. Targeted interventions were developed for vulnerable and marginalised population groups as well. For instance, with the support of frontline healthcare workers and various CSOs, NGOs, and FBOs, doorstep vaccine delivery was made available for the elderly and disabled. Special vaccination sessions were organised for pregnant women and the LGBTQIA community, and voting sites were converted into vaccine sites. Mobile vaccination initiatives were undertaken to increase vaccination access and coverage, especially for hard-to-reach populations. In fact, upwards of 90 mobile vaccination units were deployed across 27 underserved districts in Jharkhand, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu. All these were part of a well-planned approach by the Government. Similarly, in Chandigarh, special teams comprising doctors, vaccinators, and data entry operators were constituted to organise special vaccination camps in education and religious institutions, bus stands, railway stations, government and private offices, slums, Group Housing Societies, and hospitals. This kind of concerted effort from disparate groups of people epitomises and advances the spirit of Jan Bhagidari. The Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir has complex terrains and geographical challenges. In response, the state’s immunisation teams leveraged boats and ponies to ensure equitable access to vaccines in the hard-to-reach areas such as the lakes, and the LOC – including the snowbound areas. Likewise, efforts were undertaken in Uri and Boniyar, wherein, the immunisation team coordinated with army officers to utilise their chopper services to administer the vaccines. Beyond Jan Bhagidari, this amplifies the country’s enterprising, innovation-driven spirit even in the face of adversity. Within the larger narrative of focused collaborations, constructive partnerships were formed with national and international development organisations which helped to strengthen India’s COVID-19 response. From United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which has implemented projects such as MOMENTUM Routine Immunization Transformation and Equity which we are proud to have implemented; GAVI, which has been at the forefront of vaccines support and health systems strengthening initiatives; to UNDP and Gates Foundation which have provided robust support across public health initiatives in the country. Now, as India leads the G20 nations, it is an opportune time for us to build on the success of the initiatives such as the Vaccine Maitri which re-emphasised India as the ‘vaccine powerhouse of the world’ and other interventions of community engagement, innovation and planning that were implemented during the pandemic. Distilling learnings from these efforts and cross-pollinating ideas will help create an equally strong response to improve the uptake of other health services, especially routine immunisation services. In the same spirit of knowledge exchange, we partnered with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to organise a National Conclave themed Power of the Collective on January 31, 2023. The conclave brought together representatives from the Central and state governments, multilateral organisations, technical experts, and civil society organisations; and sought to further the conversation on how we can use learnings from India’s COVID-19 journey to inform routine immunisation efforts in the community. It is imperative to have more such consultations with diverse stakeholders to deliberate on how best we can action an effective, forward-looking public health blueprint. The COVID-19 outbreak reaffirmed our nation’s capabilities to address public health challenges through innovation and greater collaboration among communities and global solidarity. We must not lose momentum and strive towards mitigating the risks of outbreaks of other vaccine-preventable diseases by empowering the community and offering all knowledge tools necessary for such empowerment. Dr. Kapur is Managing Director, John Snow India Pvt Ltd Disclaimer: MOMENTUM Routine Immunization Transformation and Equity Project, supported by USAID is implemented in India by John Snow India Pvt Ltd in close collaboration with the Government of India to strengthen their outreach and delivery efforts with communities for vaccination; and through partnerships with local NGOs to increase demand, distribution and uptake of COVID-19 vaccination, particularly for vulnerable and marginalized populations across selected 18 states of India. (Visit: )
