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. ​