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Vaccination in India includes the use of vaccines in Indian public health and the place of vaccines in Indian society, policy, and research.

Vaccination policy

India's Universal Immunization Programme (UIP) began in 1985. The UIP covers:

• BCG vaccine for Tuberculosis
• DPT vaccine for Diphtheria, Pertussis and Tetanus
• OPV vaccine for Poliomyelitis
• Measles vaccine/ Measles and Rubella vaccine
• Hepatitis B vaccine
• TT vaccine
• Pentavalent vaccine for Hib, DPT, Hep B
• JE vaccine (localised)
• Rotavirus vaccine
• PCV for Streptococcus pneumoniae

Available vaccines

Coronavirus

India has been vaccinating against coronavirus since 16 January 2021.

Rotavirus

India's implementation of the rotavirus vaccine in its Universal Immunisation Programme has saved many children's lives.

Nearly every child in every country globally experiences at least one rotavirus infection in early childhood. However, in India, children are more likely to get this infection multiple times, and children in India are more likely to die from it.

A rotavirus vaccine is available. This vaccine is highly effective and has been preventing half of the severe rotovirus diarrhea cases which would occur in India otherwise. Scientists in India produce vaccines for this disease which are special for India only.

HPV

As of 2019 the Indian government is scaling up efforts to promote the HPV vaccine for girls to prevent cervical cancer. This effort began in 2008 with the introduction of one sort of vaccine and in 2018 the government began providing a newer version of the vaccine.

Respiratory syncytial virus

Cases of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in India mainly occur in North India in the winter. This virus causes lower respiratory tract infection.

Safety

India, like many other countries, uses the World Health Organization system for reporting and classifying "Adverse Events following Immunization". The government agency which manages this program is responsible for both increasing safety and giving an explanation if a problem occurs. Between 2012 and 2016, the system identified about 1000 cases. Researchers responded by examining these cases to improve safety.

History

In 1802 a 3-year-old girl in Mumbai received a smallpox vaccine, making her the first person to take a vaccine in India. The British government claimed success and began to block use of the previous technology variolation to only recommend vaccination instead. In hindsight, the situation was complicated because vaccines were the long-term solution but way that the British Raj introduced them was disruptive to how people accessed traditional health services, and to government operations, and in religion.

Society and culture

The pharmaceutical industry in India is strong and has a reputation for producing good vaccines for sale and export. Typically when a country makes vaccines, that means that local people have good access to them. For various reasons, India has both a strong vaccine manufacturing sector and also people in India, especially children, have higher rates of missing vaccines than in comparable countries.

Various commentators have given different reasons for why India has less vaccination. One historic reason is that India has contributed intensely to encouraging vaccines for smallpox and polio at the expense of being able to promote other vaccines. Another explanation could be that the Indian government underspends on vaccines in general. Somehow India's population does not demand vaccines, which could be a result of lack of public health education. India also has pseudoscience activists promoting vaccine hesitancy.

Some research has suggested that community engagement (CE) may be especially important to consider in supporting vaccination in India. This may include " focused on upstream relationships (bidirectional), fostering trust, transparent communication, capacity building, and political will to ensure such approaches." There appears to be overarching support for vaccination CE among decisionmakers in India, but there remain many structural and social barriers to moving forward on this front.

Vaccines in research

Dengue

There has been a dengue vaccine available since 2015. However, this vaccine is not effective in many cases. The Indian government participates in the global research to develop an effective general use dengue vaccine.

Kala azar

There is research for a kala azar (Leishmaniasis) vaccine in India, but none exists.

Special populations

Foreign tourists visiting India contribute significantly to India's economy. People who visit India from countries with different diseases may not have vaccines to protect against infections in India. When tourists do get an infection in India, often that infection could have been prevented with a vaccine.

The World Health Organization recommends different vaccines for tourists in different circumstances. Those vaccines include diphtheria vaccine, tetanus vaccine, hepatitis A vaccine, hepatitis B vaccine, oral polio vaccine, typhoid vaccine, varicella vaccine, Japanese encephalitis, meningococcal vaccine, rabies vaccine, and yellow fever vaccine.

References

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3. "National Immunization Schedule under Universal Immunization Programme (UIP), India". The Pharmapedia. 2021-02-27. Retrieved 2021-05-28.
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5. ^ Bergman, Hanna; Henschke, Nicholas; Hungerford, Daniel; Pitan, Femi; Ndwandwe, Duduzile; Cunliffe, Nigel; Soares-Weiser, Karla (2021-11-17). "Vaccines for preventing rotavirus diarrhoea: vaccines in use". The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2021 (11): CD008521. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD008521.pub6. ISSN 1469-493X. PMC 8597890. PMID 34788488.
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10. ^ Singh, AK; Wagner, AL; Joshi, J; Carlson, BF; Aneja, S; Boulton, ML (June 2018). "Causality assessment of serious and severe adverse events following immunization in India: a 4-year practical experience". Expert Review of Vaccines. 17 (6): 555–562. doi:10.1080/14760584.2018.1484285. PMID 29865876. S2CID 46929595.
11. ^ Lahariya, Chandrakant (1 April 2014). "A brief history of vaccines & vaccination in India". Indian Journal of Medical Research. 139 (4): 491–511. ISSN 0971-5916. PMC 4078488. PMID 24927336.
12. Bhattacharya, Sanjoy; Harrison, Mark; Worboys, Michael (2005). Fractured states : smallpox, public health and vaccination policy in British India 1800-1947. Orient Longman. ISBN 978-8125028666.
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v t e Health and Healthcare in India
Healthcare	Disease surveillance Health informatics Healthcare Healthcare system reform Hospitals in India Medical colleges Organ donation/transplantation Vaccination in India Universal Immunisation Programme Women's health Public health system in India Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) Anganwadi Auxiliary nurse midwife (ANM) All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Primary Health Centre (PHC) Mohalla Clinics
Medicine	Pharmacy Pharmaceutical industry Biotechnology
Diseases	Disease-related deaths Cardiovascular disease Chronic diseases Diabetes Enterovirus 71 (EV71) HIV/AIDS Leprosy Malnutrition Obesity Pneumonic plague Blue-ear disease SARS (outbreak progress) Stroke Tuberculosis
Government	Ministry of Health Ayushman Bharat Yojana NACO National Health Mission Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Ministry of Ayush
Agencies and institutes	Public National Centre for Disease Control Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme Indian Council of Medical Research National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases National Institute of Epidemiology National Institute of Virology Viral Research and Diagnostic Laboratories Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation Council of Scientific and Industrial Research Central Drug Research Institute Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology Indian Institute of Chemical Biology Indian Institute of Chemical Technology Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine Institute of Microbial Technology Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology National Chemical Laboratory National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories
Epidemics	Global pandemics Swine Flu COVID-19 Cholera pandemics First Second Third Fourth Fifth Sixth Other outbreaks Smallpox Plague Hepatitis Bubonic plague
Statistics	National Family Health Survey
Studies	Million Death Study
Other issues	Criminal: Corruption Human trafficking Smoking Suicide Socioeconomic: Demographics Environment Pollution Caste Sanitation Poverty Vegetarianism

v t e Mental health and healthcare in India
Psychiatric hospitals and other in-patient units	Antara Bangur Institute of Neurosciences Central Institute of Psychiatry Ranchi Institute of Mental Health, Amritsar Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research State Mental Health Institute Vidyasagar Institute of Mental Health and Neuro and Allied Sciences Yerwada Mental Hospital
Non-governmental organizations	AASRA The Alternative Story The Banyan Lifeline Foundation The Live Love Laugh Foundation Schizophrenia Research Foundation Vandrevala Foundation
Mental health professional associations	Indian Psychiatric Society Indian Association of Private Psychiatry Indian Association of Clinical Psychology National Academy of Psychology
Mental health journals	Indian Journal of Psychiatry Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine Journal of Indian Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Mens Sana Monographs
Key people	H. Narayan Murthy Radhika Chandiramani Bhargavi Davar Vikram Patel Anirudh Kala Alok Sarin Indira Sharma Shekhar Seshadri Girindrasekhar Bose M. Sarada Menon
Controversy & criticism	Erwadi fire incident Political abuse of psychiatry in India

• Healthcare in India
• Vaccination by country