New Delhi: A little over 27 per cent of all adults eligible for Covid-19 vaccination have received the first dose, the central government told the Supreme Court Saturday.
In an affidavit filed Saturday night, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare noted that 44.2 per cent of the priority population (aged 45 years and above) and 13 per cent of the adults in the 18-44 age group have got their first doses.
The affidavit further submitted that the vaccination per million population in tribal areas is better than the national average, while addressing concerns that mandatory registration on the online portal CoWIN was leading to a digital divide, making access to vaccination difficult in rural areas.
According to the health ministry, prior self-registration and booking of appointment on CoWIN is not mandatory to avail vaccination services and walk-in registration and appointment sites have been set up to facilitate those who cannot register online.
The government added that it expects adequate doses to be available to vaccinate the entire eligible population, noting that “a structured and scientific administration of these vaccines by all stakeholders” is at present required by “constructive and cooperative collaboration of Central Government, State/UT Governments, local authorities, human resources in medical sectors and the citizens of India”.
According to the affidavit, the trajectory of the Covid-19 spread is declining and that the possibility of any “resurgence would be speculative at this stage”.
However, it added, a resurgence would depend on the “behaviour pattern of the virus” and of the people whether they follow Covid-appropriate behaviour or not.
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186-188 cr doses needed to vaccinate entire population
Elaborating on the success of the vaccination programme in tribal areas, the affidavit said as of 23 June, 97 of the 176 tribal districts have performed better than the rest of the country in terms of vaccination coverage.
More walk-in vaccinations have also been happening in tribal districts compared to national average and even the gender ratio for people vaccinated is better in these tribal districts.
Over 2.13 lakh doses per million population have been administered nationally, while the figure for tribal districts stands at 2.19 lakh.
The affidavit based the figures on the projected mid-year population for 2020, which stands at approximately 93-94 crore people aged 18 and above. Administering two doses to these beneficiaries will, therefore, require an estimated 186-188 crore vaccine doses, the affidavit stated.
Of these, 51.6 crore doses will be made available for administration by 31 July, leaving approximately 135 crore doses for complete vaccination of the eligible population.
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Over 56% doses administered in rural vaccination centres
Addressing concerns about the possible exclusion of people due to mandatory CoWin registration, the health ministry said that out of the 32.22 crore beneficiaries registered till 23 June, 19.13 crore or 59 per cent were walk-in registrations.
Furthermore, out of the total 1,24,969 vaccination centres, 93,044 vaccination centres are located in rural areas. And of the 17,10,18,010 total doses administered through these vaccination centres between 1 May and 23 June, a little over 9.61 crore or 56.24 per cent were administered at the rural vaccination centres.
The ministry added that more than 1.5 lakh people without any identity cards were given vaccines under the prevailing system.
While the health ministry ruled out the possibility of introducing home-to-home vaccination drives, it noted that more than 39 lakh beneficiaries have been vaccinated through the near-to-home vaccination sessions.
“There would be high chances of break in cold chain of the vaccine due to frequent opening of vaccine carrier (for storage of vaccines at required temperature at vaccination sessions) at every household, which may adversely affect vaccine efficacy,” the affidavit said, spelling out the limitations of home-to-home drive.
Chances of vaccine wastage would be high due to increased time involved in visiting beneficiaries door-to-door besides posing a risk to the vaccinator as it involves exposure to multiple household environments and substantial time spent indoors, it added.
Till now, 32,17,60,077 vaccine doses have been administered across the country.
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