Challenges in Vaccine Acceptance– A Framework & Toolkit for the COVID -19 Battle

Abstract

During the first wave of this COVID-19 pandemic, India’s performance was relatively superior among the countries that had their first cases in January 2020. We grouped these countries as ‘January Cohort’ and analysed their relative performance (IJCH, April 2020), supporting India’s management. Fast forward to the present, India’s performance is woefully lacking, accounting for 30% of daily cases and 31% daily deaths with 18% of the world population [Worldometer Coronavirus database, June1,2021). On this same day, 50% of the countries worldwide (110 of 222) reported no deaths and 25% (57) without any daily new cases. Thus, we have faltered with a series of public health missteps despite a good start.

The latest and the most remarkable failure of India is the vaccination, despite being the world’s foremost producer. Many of the poor performers initially in the January Cohort, such as UK and USA, focused on ‘vaccinating their way out of the pandemic’ since the roll out of vaccines in December2020. The results are in display starting February 2021- to date, with cases/ deaths on decline in these countries, while India is in a reverse direction. On June 1^st, UK reported no COVID-19 deaths and USA had about 31% decline of 14-day moving average.