1 Inequality was increasing across districts until June, but it is coming down now
The best way to measure inter-district vaccine inequality is by looking at the gap between districts which have performed well and those which have not. Individual comparisons, such as the gap between best and worst districts, can be misleading here. This is because such districts can be outliers. HT has looked at the share of vaccinated population by classifying all districts into quartiles (from bottom 25% to top 25%) for each day of vaccination.
The comparison shows that inter-district vaccine inequality in terms of share of vaccinated population with at least one dose has almost continuously decreased. This comparison starts from April 1, which is when India opened vaccination for everyone over the age of 45. First dose coverage in the bottom three quartiles has almost consistently caught up with the coverage in the top 25% districts. The coverage in bottom 25% districts was 26% of the coverage in top 25% districts on April 1 and is now 43% of the coverage in the top 25% districts.
The inequality in second doses has decreased less consistently than for first doses. On April 1, coverage in the bottom three quartiles was at 25.76%, 40.53%, and 59.82% of the coverage in the top quartile. This gap increased for the bottom three quartiles at different rates initially. From July 2, inter-district vaccine inequality started coming down for all three bottom quartiles for the population that has received both doses as well.