By: Richard Beighton, Chief of Resource Mobilization and Partnerships, UNICEF India
India has become the first country to report more than 400,000 new coronavirus cases in a single day. Although as a percentage of total population this is much lower than many other countries, a devastating second wave of COVID-19 is surging, and the country is facing acute shortages of medical oxygen and hospital beds. On average, there were more than four new cases every second and nearly three deaths every minute in the last 24 hours.
Despite being the world’s biggest producer of vaccines, the country is also suffering a shortage, which is hampering the roll-out of vaccines to younger people. Although over 160 million shots have been given, almost 32 million of these were second vaccines, meaning that only 10% of India’s 1.3 billion people have had at least one vaccine. At the current rate, it may take
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