India currently has six approved COVID-19 vaccines. However, Zydus Cadila’s, Johnson & Johnson’s, and Moderna’s vaccines are not yet available in India. Considering the gigantic vaccination drive in India, any delay in their availability will impact the overall market potential of the recently approved COVID-19 vaccines, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

On 17 September 2021, India set a world record with over 25 million vaccinations in a single day. According to GlobalData’s Pharma Intelligence Center, India is ranked second globally after China in the total number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered at over 821 million as of 21 September 2021. Covishield and Covaxin dominate India’s overall COVID-19 vaccination drive, with Covishield and Covaxin representing over 99% of the overall vaccines administered as of 21 September 2021.

Mr. Prashant Khadayate, Pharma Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “India’s vaccination drive has scaled up drastically with an average daily administration of over 8 million doses. India has already fully vaccinated 15% of its population and 29% of its population is vaccinated with a single dose. Considering this, India will administer at least 240 million doses in a month and expected to vaccinate its adult population by December 2021.”

Moreover, India is relying heavily on Covishield supply. In September 2021, India ordered another 660 million doses to be supplied by December 2021.

Earlier, Moderna received emergency use authorization (EUA) in June 2021, followed by Johnson & Johnson’s and Zydus Cadila’s vaccines in August 2021. Zydus Cadila’s vaccine is the only vaccine in India to get approval in the 12-18 age group. However, Covaxin is also conducting Phase II/III trials in India in the 2-18 age group and the results are expected in September 2021.

In addition, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories (DRL), in partnership with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), has made Sputnik V available in India in May 2021. However, only 0.9 million doses of Sputnik V have been administered so far. Therefore, the low vaccine administration of Sputnik V could be attributed to the limited supply.

Mr. Khadayate concludes: “Considering the pace of the vaccination drive in India, a sufficient vaccine supply is one of the key factors to be successful in COVID-19 vaccination race. In addition, even if people are vaccinated with a single dose of either Covishield or Covaxin, they need to take second dose of the same vaccine as mixing of vaccines is not allowed. Therefore, delays in the availability of recently approved vaccines will further impact the overall market potential. However, there are many opportunities below 18 years age group compared to the adult population.”