title: India's vaccine deficit: why more than half of Indian children are not fully immunized, and what can--and should--be done.
abstract: Although India is a leading producer and exporter of vaccines, the country is home to one-third of the world's unimmunized children. Fewer than 44 percent of India's young children receive the full schedule of immunizations. India's vaccine deficit has several causes: little investment by the government; a focus on polio eradication at the expense of other immunizations; and low demand as a consequence of a poorly educated population and the presence of anti-vaccine advocates. In this article we describe India's vaccine deficit and recommend that the government move quickly to increase spending on, and otherwise strengthen, national immunization programs.
authors.affiliation: Public Health Foundation of India, New Delhi, India. ramanan@cddep.org
authors.forename: Ramanan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Laxminarayan
authors.forename: Nirmal Kumar
authors.initials: NK
authors.lastname: Ganguly
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D017589:Immunization Programs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007194:India; D007223:Infant; D014611:Vaccination / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014612:Vaccines / Q000600:supply & distribution*
chemical_list: D014612:Vaccines