New Delhi, Nov. 13 -- India has shown that immunisation works at scale. Full coverage among children rose from 62 per cent in 2015 to 98.4 per cent in January 2026 because vaccines came through a free national programme, trained frontline workers, and a dependable cold chain. Adults have no such system. Apart from tetanus boosters for pregnant women, vaccines against influenza, pneumococcal disease and shingles are left to the private market, and the latest National Sample Survey found that just 0.40 per cent of people above 60 had received any vaccine. The people most at risk of serious illness are therefore the least protected, even as the population ages. Closing the gap means treating adult immunisation as a public programme: free flu...