Experts noted such completion numbers for the two-dose regime of the most widely used vaccines against the coronavirus are a cause for celebration.
"With the biggest mass vaccination program in history, 92% of people coming back for their second shot is a huge victory," said Dr. Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease specialist at the University of California, San Francisco.
India smashed another daily global record of new infections Saturday with more than 400,000 new cases, but at least one expert says the true tally could be much higher than that. Dr. Prabhat Jha of the University of Toronto estimates, based on modeling from a previous surge in India, that the true infection numbers could be 10 times higher than the official reports.
“Entire houses are infected," Jha said. "If one person gets tested in the house and reports they’re positive and everyone else in the house starts having symptoms, it’s obvious they have COVID, so why get tested?”
India reported 392,488 new infections Sunday, down slightly from the previous 24 hours.
The U.S. has begun shipping valuable vaccine components, oxygen, and masks to India, and other countries are lending help as well, but the demand will still outstrip supply. President Joe Biden's administration also plans to restrict travel between the U.S. and India beginning Tuesday.
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