Nearly 10% of eligible population inoculated
Close to 10% of India’s eligible population has now been fully vaccinated for Covid-19, data from the government’s CO-WIN system showed on Monday, when over 6.5 million doses were given across the country, according to its dashboard.
In terms of partial protection, 26.5% of the 940 million eligible population has now had one dose. In all, there are now a little over 436 million doses given to people since the drive began on January 16.
“Also, in another significant achievement today, Maharashtra became the first state to vaccinate more than 1 crore (10 million) people with both doses of Covid-19 vaccine,” the Union health ministry said in its latest Covid-19 vaccination update issued on Monday evening.
In the last week, India administered an average of 4.1 million doses a day – far lower than its peak of 6.4 million doses a day recorded on average in the seven days ending June 26.
On Monday, the number of second doses administered was a little over 30% of the doses given during the day but this share is likely to increase in coming days as the 18-plus age group, which became eligible for doses on May 1, is scheduled to take their second doses of Covishield beginning end of July.
In terms of the most doses
NEW DELHI:
ever given, India’s record was on June 21 when the universal free adult vaccination programme was opened up by the Union government – that day, 8.8 million doses were administered.
Monday’s vaccination numbers were the fifth highest recorded in the 192 days of the drive.
The increase in vaccine coverage comes days after serological surveys suggested two-thirds of the country’s population, on average, may have some protection from the coronavirus due to either vaccination or an infection that left them with antibodies.
Antibodies from a past infection are expected to wane in a matter of months, possibly enough to allow for a re-infection, although such an infection might still manifest itself in asymptomatic or a mild manner. Experts said this makes vaccines necessary since they also impart long-lasting adaptive immune memory.
Government officials and experts have also cautioned against reading too much into population immunity estimates until there is ample coverage of vaccination.
A country like Israel, which has one of the highest coverage of full vaccination at close to 62% of the population, has seen an increase in infections in recent weeks due to the more resistant Delta variant.
India will need to significantly boost its vaccination rates since at the current pace of 4.1 million vaccination a day, the country will not meet its target of vaccinating the entire population by December 31.