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Early in 2021, India embarked on the uphill journey of the COVID-19 vaccination of the largest population group in the world in a prioritized manner and in the shortest possible time. Considering the endless variety of geography and diverse socio-economic demographic, religious, and community contexts, there was a high likelihood of certain population subgroups with known vulnerabilities facing inequities, which were anticipated to be further accentuated by a digital divide. This necessitated devising solutions for such communities in a localized manner to aid the local government in breaking the service access and uptake barriers with an inclusive approach. To bridge this vital gap, the Momentum Routine Immunization Transformation and Equity project implemented a three-tiered collaboration, viz., government, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and a wide range of vulnerable and at-risk communities, utilizing knowledge exchange and use of data. The project implemented localization strategies through the NGOs for community engagement in conjunction with government vaccination teams to universalize COVID-19 vaccination uptake up to the last mile. The collaboration resulted in reaching close to 50 million beneficiaries through messaging and facilitated the administration of more than 14 million vaccine doses, including 6.1 million doses for vulnerable and marginalized communities in 18 States and Union territories in India, along with suggesting implications for public health practice and research.

Mass vaccination, currently the most promising solution to contain communicable diseases, including COVID-19 requires collaboration between a variety of partners to improve the supply and demand and alleviate vaccine inequity. Vaccine hesitancy features in WHO’s list of top 10 threats to global health, and there is plethora of disinformation instigating conflict between COVID-19 vaccination drive and religious sentiments. Negotiating public health partnerships with FBOs (Faith Based Organizations) has always been challenging. A handful of faith leaders have always shown resistance to ideas such as child immunization, and family planning. Many others have been supportive on other fronts like helping people with food, shelter, and medical aid in the times of public health crisis. Religion is an important part of life for the majority of the Indian population. People confide in faith-based leaders in the times of difficulty. This article presents experiences from the strategic engagement with FBOs (entities dedicated to specific religious identities, often including a social or moral component) to promote uptake of COVID-19 vaccination, especially among the vulnerable and marginalized communities. The project team collaborated with 18 FBOs and more than 400 religious institutions to promote COVID-19 vaccination and build confidence for the vaccination program. As a result, a sustainable network of sensitized FBOs from diverse faiths was created. The FBOs mobilized and facilitated vaccination of 0.41 million beneficiaries under the project.

Aim: Timely vaccination is essential to achieve full potential of the vaccination especially in child population. Despite of success in increasing the coverage in India's universal immunization programme (UIP), timely vaccination remains a challenge. This study aims to understand the key socioeconomic correlates of vaccination delay and guide by charting the future course of action. Subject & methods: This study was a part of the review conducted in four states namely Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Assam and Haryana to understand the equity issues in immunization. It was a cross-sectional study where 293 mothers of children aged 12–35 months were interviewed using semi-structured questionnaire. Association of delay in immunization and co-variates were examined through multilevel Poisson regression framework. Results: Timely vaccination was poor for most of the antigens except Measles. Only 52.6% of children had BCG on time and very few for Pentavalent doses as per the scheduled time (Penta-1: 3.4%, Penta-2: 1.4% and Penta-3: none). Whereas, measles showed better coverage (75%) for timely vaccination as compared to other basic antigens. About 72.7% received their basic vaccination in first year of life. Religion and mother's education were found to be associated with delay in all vaccination as per the schedule (at Birth, 6 weeks, 10 weeks, 14 weeks and 9–12 month). Conclusion: Timeliness of vaccination definitely requires attention to avoid increased risk of infection among children and avoid epidemics and outbreaks. There is a need to increase attention towards urban areas and improve the timeliness of vaccination and utilise the complete potential of the Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP).

Introduction: Despite the concerted efforts of the central and state governments and other immunization stakeholders, full immunization rates in India remains low. This paper outlines the findings of a comprehensive review of the Universal Immunization Programme (UIP) and provide recommendations to formulate an action plan for improving routine immunization coverage. Design: A mixed-method approach was adopted to collect data under four thematic areas, namely programme implementation, vaccine logistics and cold chain, data recording and reporting system, and programme communication in five high priority states. Results obtained for indicators under each thematic area, were then divided into four categories: a) ≥90 % - good, b) 70–90%-fair, c) 50–70 % - average and d)