India’s ongoing Covid vaccination drive shows a worrying gender gap. Official figures reveal that far more men are being vaccinated than women in all but three states.
India started the drive on Jan 16 by administering the vaccine to health workers. From March 1, it was extended to people over the age of 60, whereas the net was cast wider to the people aged 18 to 44 from May 1.
By the end of May, India had administered at least one Covid vaccine dose to 165 million citizens, accounting for about 19 percent of the country’s adult population.
In the early days of the vaccination program, women outnumbered men because of their higher number in the health sector. However, the number is in decline since Jan 31.
By end-May, there were 871 women for every 1,000 men vaccinated. In sharp contrast, women in the United States are more likely to be vaccinated than men despite the country’s lower female population.
Talking about the adult population, India has a higher male-to-female ratio except for three states – Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Kerala – where women outnumber men.
However, despite a higher male population, the difference between vaccinating men and women is much higher and a cause for concern.
The trend is quite prevalent in Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi and Orissa, whereas in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and West Bengal more than one million men got the vaccine compared to women.
“When you have a system that relies on a website, the most privileged will be at an advantage,” an expert says.
The gender gap is also visible in India’s northeastern states and the areas administered by the federal government.
There is no clear reason behind this gender gap, but some government officials say it may be due to difficulty in reaching out to women and their reluctance to get the jab. Experts also argue that women are more reluctant to be vaccinated than men.
For instance, in states like Tamil Nadu, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh, there is a general reluctance to the Covid vaccine, especially among women.
Another possible reason is the fact that the vaccine drive was based on technology, says T. Sundararaman, a public health expert and global coordinator of the People’s Health Movement. “When you have a system that relies on a website, the most privileged will be at an advantage,” he said. “This means upper class, urban, young men.”
A case in point is Bihar, where only 51 percent of women had a phone, and only half of them could read an SMS, according to the National Family Health Survey of 2019-20. Besides, only one-third of households in the state had Internet access.
But the problem goes deeper. Sundararaman points out bias against women even in the first phase of the vaccination drive, which covered only health workers.
The Indian government is also not administering the vaccine to pregnant women except in special circumstances. However, breastfeeding mothers were allowed vaccines just last week.
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