Covid-19 Vaccination in India: An Exploratory Analysis

Abstract Our study is designed to explore the patterns in covid vaccination coverage in India at the district level. We use data from the first six months of covid vaccination drive in India that we combine with several other administrative data to create a unique data set that facilitates heterogeneity analysis across different vaccination phases and districts. We find evidence of past reported infection rates positively correlated with higher first dose covid vaccination outcomes. Higher Deaths as a proportion of district population is associated with lower vaccination uptake but as a percentage of reported infection was positively correlated with first dose covid vaccination. Districts that on average had higher population burden per health centre also had lower covid vaccination rates. Vaccination rates were lower in rural areas relative to urban areas whereas the association with literacy rate was positive. A higher vaccination rate among the population with higher blood pressure and hypertension (one of the co-morbidities with covid infection) was observed while vaccination rates were lower among pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers. Districts with higher percentage of children with complete immunisation were associated with higher covid vaccination rates whereas low vaccination rates were observed in districts that reported relatively higher percentage of wasted children.