More than 33% of India's target population has received first dose of Covid-19 vaccine

After six months of vaccination, more than one third of India’s target population has received the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine which would protect them from developing a serious disease when infected, whereas 22 out of 37 states and union territories provided the shots to more than 40% of their target population.

While small states with fewer residents did particularly well, eight bigger and more populous states gave the first dose to more than 40% of their target population – Telangana (49%), Gujarat (48%), Karnataka (46%), Rajasthan (45%), Delhi (45%), Haryana (42%), Chhattisgarh (42%) and Kerala (42%).

In the south, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh fare poorly compared to other three, but overall the worst vaccination records belong to Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, which could manage to give the single dose so far to less than 25% of their target population and both doses to only 4%.

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A DH analysis of the official data available on CoWin (at 6 pm on Sunday) shows that out of a target of 94.47 crore people for the entire country, nearly 34% has received the first dose whereas 8.66% got both. The government has a target of vaccinating the population by December, 2021.

States and UT with small populations did well with Sikkim becoming the first state to cover 100% of its population with the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. The Himalayan state is followed by Ladakh (84%), Lakshadweep (81%), Dadra and Nagar Haveli (80%), Daman and Diu (77%), Tripura (77%), Mizoram (77%), Arunachal Pradesh (64%) and Himachal Pradesh (64%).

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“It is essential that all regions of India increase vaccination coverage to all adults, with attention to full two dose coverage for all vulnerable persons,” K Srinath Reddy, president, Public Health Foundation of India told DH.

“For this we need to increase vaccine supply, efficient and equitable distribution, adequate numbers of vaccination centres and teams across the country, buildup of vaccine confidence in people and hassle free registration with assistance as needed to those who are deterred by mandated technology.”

On the flip side, there are seven states that could not inoculate even one third of their population so far. They are Uttar Pradesh (22%), Bihar (24%), Andhra Pradesh (26%), West Bengal (26%), Jharkhand (26%), Tamil Nadu (28%) and Punjab (29%).

The Union Health Ministry on Sunday said that it had supplied nearly 42 crore vaccines to the states of which 39.42 crore have been consumed and the balance of 2.56 crore doses are with the states. In addition, 15.75 lakh doses are in the pipeline.