India Pharma and Healthcare Sector Report Half-Annual Update - October 2021

India’s pharmaceuticals and healthcare sector has been dominated by a second wave of COVID-19 infections beginning in April 2021 driven by the Delta variant. The surge caught the Indian government and the pharmaceuticals and healthcare sector unprepared, pushing the healthcare system to breaking point.? By July 2021, the deadly wave of infections had subsided as Indian citizens showed increasing signs of natural immunity to the SARS-CoV-2 virus and its variants, thanks to natural infection and increasing vaccination coverage. Nevertheless, vaccination coverage remains low in India, with only approximately 20% of the population fully vaccinated by mid-October 2021 due to the immense logistical challenges involved in vaccinating a country with a 1.4 billion-strong population. ?