Nearly every child in every country globally experiences at least one rotavirus infection in early childhood.[5] However, in India, children are more likely to get this infection multiple times, and children in India are more likely to die from it.[5]
A rotavirus vaccine is available.[5] This vaccine is highly effective and has been preventing half of the severe rotovirus diarrhea cases which would occur in India otherwise.[5] Scientists in India produce vaccines for this disease which are special for India only.[5]
As of 2019 the Indian government is scaling up efforts to promote the HPV vaccine for girls to prevent cervical cancer.[6] This effort began in 2008 with the introduction of one sort of vaccine and in 2018 the government began providing a newer version of the vaccine.[6]
India, like many other countries, uses the World Health Organization system for reporting and classifying "Adverse Events following Immunization".[8] The government agency which manages this program is responsible for both increasing safety and giving an explanation if a problem occurs.[9] Between 2012 and 2016, the system identified about 1000 cases.[10] Researchers responded by examining these cases to improve safety.[10]
In 1802 a 3-year-old girl in Mumbai received a smallpox vaccine, making her the first person to take a vaccine in India.[11] The British government claimed success and began to block use of the previous technology variolation to only recommend vaccination instead.[11] 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.[12]
The pharmaceutical industry in India is strong and has a reputation for producing good vaccines for sale and export.[13] Typically when a country makes vaccines, that means that local people have good access to them.[13] 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.[13]
Various commentators have given different reasons for why India has less vaccination.[13] 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.[13] Another explanation could be that the Indian government underspends on vaccines in general.[13] Somehow India's population does not demand vaccines, which could be a result of lack of public health education.[13] India also has pseudoscience activists promoting vaccine hesitancy.[13]
Some research has suggested that community engagement (CE) may be especially important to consider in supporting vaccination in India. This may include "[efforts that are] focused on upstream relationships (bidirectional), fostering trust, transparent communication, capacity building, and political will to ensure such approaches."[14] 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.[15]
There has been a dengue vaccine available since 2015.[16] However, this vaccine is not effective in many cases.[16] The Indian government participates in the global research to develop an effective general use dengue vaccine.[16]
Foreign tourists visiting India contribute significantly to India's economy.[17] People who visit India from countries with different diseases may not have vaccines to protect against infections in India.[17] When tourists do get an infection in India, often that infection could have been prevented with a vaccine.[17][18]
^Singh, AK; Wagner, AL; Joshi, J; Carlson, BF; Aneja, S; Boulton, ML (24 July 2017). "Application of the revised WHO causality assessment protocol for adverse events following immunization in India". Vaccine. 35 (33): 4197–4202. doi:10.1016/j.vaccine.2017.06.027. PMID28648545. S2CID4547302.
^Joshi, J; Das, MK; Polpakara, D; Aneja, S; Agarwal, M; Arora, NK (February 2018). "Vaccine Safety and Surveillance for Adverse Events Following Immunization (AEFI) in India". Indian Journal of Pediatrics. 85 (2): 139–148. doi:10.1007/s12098-017-2532-9. PMID29170922. S2CID4252838.
^ abSingh, 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. PMID29865876. S2CID46929595.
^Bhattacharya, Sanjoy; Harrison, Mark; Worboys, Michael (2005). Fractured states : smallpox, public health and vaccination policy in British India 1800-1947. Orient Longman. ISBN978-8125028666.
^ abcdefghLaxminarayan, Ramanan; Ganguly, Nirmal Kumar (June 2011). "India's Vaccine Deficit: Why More Than Half Of Indian Children Are Not Fully Immunized, And What Can—And Should—Be Done". Health Affairs. 30 (6): 1096–1103. doi:10.1377/hlthaff.2011.0405. PMID21653963.