Project Geographies

The Government of India launched the world’s largest COVID-19 vaccination program in January 2021 to accelerate vaccination uptake among vulnerable and hard-to-reach populations in the country. The MOMENTUM Routine Immunization Transformation and Equity project supported the country’s nationwide roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccine. The project contributed to ongoing global efforts to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on immunization services and supported the central and state governments in introducing and rolling out the COVID-19 vaccines.

Gaps and Challenges Addressed

Despite sustained efforts to increase coverage and access to vaccination, there has been low coverage among vulnerable, marginalized, and hard-to-reach populations. Vaccine hesitancy and prevalence of myths, misconceptions, rumors, and misinformation added to challenges in ensuring equitable coverage.
Increased caseload, hospitalization, and death surges have affected countless individuals, placing the public health system under severe strain. Instances of supply exceeding demand and delays in timely procurement and distribution of vaccines further aggravated the on-ground situation across states.

Key Objectives

Generating demand for the COVID-19 vaccine by designing targeted interventions.

Supporting the national and state governments in reaching the most vulnerable and marginalized communities for improved COVID-19 vaccination coverage.

Strengthening supply chain management of COVID-19 vaccine from the point of manufacture to last-mile delivery.

JSIPL’s Role through MOMENTUM Routine Immunization Transformation & Equity Project:

To address challenges facing the COVID-19 vaccine rollout in India, the project provided technical assistance to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) and state governments to strengthen COVID-19 vaccination implementation. John Snow India Private Limited (JSIPL) provided technical assistance and program management of COVID-19 vaccination with day-to-day technical and managerial oversight for activities. Local Indian partner organizations (NGOs) played a critical strategic role in the implementation, particularly at the state level and below, and supported last-mile service delivery strategies and community engagement to increase demand and fair coverage of services. The project also supported improved data quality and visibility to inform vaccine supply decisions, including mapping public and private sector facilities, developed tailored approaches, and leveraged available service delivery points for vaccine administration.

Achievements

Facilitated administration of 15.6 million COVID-19 vaccine doses across project states against the target of 14 million COVID-19 vaccine doses.
Around 62 million people directly benefited through on-ground interventions and community messaging targeted at demand generation and quality service delivery.
Oriented more than 105,000 health workers, district vaccine store managers, cold chain handlers, and frontline workers across project states on COVID-19 vaccination.
Acted as a critical contributor to National COVID-19 vaccination data compilation and analytical support to the Government of India and state governments.
Established over 380+ local partnerships with private and local bodies at the state and sub-state levels to support last-mile delivery and community engagement activities. It supported over 26 NGOs to improve COVID-19 vaccination coverage.

*Data as on 31 December 2024

MOMENTUM Routine Immunization Transformation And Equity

Project Geographies

Gaps and Challenges Addressed

JSIPL’s Role through MOMENTUM Routine Immunization Transformation & Equity Project:

Achievements