India opens COVID-19 vaccinations to all adults in effort to tame spike

India has opened COVID-19 vaccinations to all adults on Saturday in hopes of taming a monstrous spike in infections. The huge inoculation effort, however, was sure to tax the limits of the federal government, the country's vaccine factories and the patience of its 1.4 billion people.

The world's largest maker of vaccines was still short of critical supplies — the result of lagging manufacturing and raw material shortages that delayed the rollout in several states. And even in places where the shots were in stock, the country's wide economic disparities made access to the vaccine inconsistent. Only a fraction of India's population will be able to afford the prices charged by private hospitals for the shot, experts said, meaning that states will be saddled with immunizing the 600 million Indian adults younger than 45, while the federal government gives shots to 300 million health care and front-line workers and people older than 45.