New Delhi: States across the country have seen an increase in the number of beneficiaries being vaccinated every day since the world’s largest Covid-19 immunisation drive kicked-off on 16 January.
According to health ministry data, 11 states and union territories have managed to inoculate over 35 per cent of all its registered healthcare workers. These include Lakshwadweep, Odisha, Haryana, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Rajasthan and Telangana.
“This is a commendable achievement and we must place on record our deep appreciation of the healthcare teams, vaccinators of states and UTs,” said Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan at Thursday’s press briefing.
The number of daily sessions has also increased from 3,374 on 16 January to 9,994 on 28 January, according to the ministry data.
The ministry also highlighted six states, which have fared poorly in the vaccination programme — Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Uttarakhand, and Chhattisgarh.
ThePrint gathered Covid-19 vaccination coverage data from health departments of several states to gauge the vaccine hesitancy trends.
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How states have progressed
According to the ministry’s data, so far, 28,47,608 beneficiaries have been inoculated and in 13 states the numbers have crossed 1 lakh. Among them are Karnataka, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal.
Since the start of the immunisation drive, Karnataka has seen a steady decline in the daily vaccine turnout i.e. the number of beneficiaries vaccinated every day out of the daily target. The number decreased from 63.5 per cent to 38 per cent as of 29 January.
Despite this, however, the state health department has managed to vaccinate over 35.6 per cent of its healthcare workers (2.81 lakh), the health ministry data showed.
Vaccine sessions are being held every day in the state for the last 12 days.
Similarly, in Telangana, the daily vaccine coverage fell from 92.2 per cent to 47.4 per cent (as of 25 January), according to the state health department. But it still remains among the better performing states in the country, having inoculated over 40.3 per cent of all its healthcare workers.
Meanwhile, in West Bengal, a total of 1,87,394 beneficiaries were vaccinated in sessions held over nine days since 16 January. The state’s health department in its daily update said this was achieved out of a target of 2,52,772 and the vaccine coverage was at 74 per cent.
“The [CoWin] portal issue were there off and on throughout the day,” said the state health department Thursday evening.
Day one of the drive in the state had also seen a low turnout as a result of the glitches in the CoWin portal.
“The list was supposed to come on Friday (15 January), but as the portal crashed on that day, there was a lot of chaos everywhere. So the local administration had to call people to the centre,” Manas Gumta, general secretary of Association of Health Service Doctors, had told ThePrint at the time.
In Madhya Pradesh, the daily vaccine coverage has remained close to 62 per cent, with the highest being recorded at 67.3 per cent on 20 January, according to state health data.
As of 28 January, a total of 1,95,572 healthcare workers have been inoculated, which accounts for 35.5 per cent of all phase one beneficiaries.
Rising trend
During the Thursday pres briefing, the health ministry stated that the six states that “need to improve vaccination performance” are Jharkhand, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra.
Following the first two days of vaccination, ThePrint had reported that less than 50 per cent of the registered healthcare workers had been inoculated in Delhi.
Scepticism about the Covaxin was blamed for the vaccine hesitancy, especially after an adverse event was reported at AIIMS on Day one of the rollout.
“I have been sceptical about this vaccine (Covaxin) throughout, but after learning about what the security guard went through, it is but natural to be hesitant,” a member of the AIIMS Resident Doctors’ Association, who didn’t wish to be named, had told ThePrint.
By Monday (25 January), however, the turnout in Delhi reportedly improved, even touching 91.5 per cent, signalling rising acceptance of the vaccine.
Despite this, however, only 15.7 per cent of the registered beneficiaries have been inoculated so far, health ministry stated.
Tamil Nadu is also seeing a similar trend. The drive had started on a mellow note with an 18.8 per cent vaccine turnout on 16 January.
By 18 January, the trend improved drastically, rising to 58 per cent that day and the numbers have remained between 40-55 per cent, except on two days when it fell to 14.7 per cent (24 January) and 27.7 per cent (26 January).
“It was anticipated that once Pongal holidays are over, it will pick up. Tamil Nadu has a strong public health cadre and dedicated health professionals across directorates, including the government and private sector,” the state’s health department had said in a statement shared with ThePrint on 18 January.
So far, the state’s health department has inoculated a total of 88,467 health workers, which accounts for over 15.7 per cent of the registered phase one beneficiaries.
(With inputs from Simrin Sirur)
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