Low vaccine coverage among India's senior citizens raises third wave concerns

Despite India's vaccination drive speeding up - recently recording major milestones in daily doses administered - low coverage among the country's senior citizens remains a concern.

With the SARS-CoV2 infection especially damaging to people over 60 years of age, the low numbers are ringing alarm bells.

According to vaccination data from the country, states like Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal - who have large populations over 60 years of age - have low coverage.


India's national average of vaccine doses per 1,000 people (60 years and above) is currently at 947.13. But, the states mentioned previously are all well below that mark.

• Tamil Nadu administer 523.05 doses
• Uttar Pradesh administered 651.12 doses
• West Bengal administered 853.48 doses

These three states each have over one crore people in the senior citizen population bracket.

Maharashtra, home to 1.45 crore people over 60, did significantly better, administering 951.12 doses per 1,000.

"The next wave is likely to be limited to states where overall seroprevalence, both infection as well as vaccine induced, is low. However, if the vaccine coverage of elderly population is still low, there is a huge risk of the human tragedy repeating in terms of deaths and suffering," Oommen C Kurian, senior fellow, health initiative at ORF told TOI.

Areas that have a higher older population are likely ro bear the burden of the next COVID-19 wave, Kurian added.

Just over 60% of the country's senior citizens have gotten one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while 31% has been fully vaccinated, as of August 27.

As of September 1, India administered over 66.15 crore doses, but there is currently no word on how much senior citizen coverage has improved.


While the vaccines against COVID-19 will not entirely block the infection, they will greatly reduce the severity of the disease, ensuring lives are saved. This becomes especially important with older people - who have a higher occurrence of comorbidities and other complications.

With inputs from TOI.