Over 3 million vaccinated against Covid-19 in a single day, but 50% of frontliners still left

NEW DELHI: India administered over three million Covid-19 vaccine shots on Monday, the highest in a single day so far driven by increasing the number of second doses as well as those above 60 years of age getting inoculated.

The coverage of beneficiaries aged over 60 crossed one crore in 15 days, the health ministry said.

On Tuesday, over 19.11 lakh doses were given till 7pm taking the total number of jabs administered so far to 3.48 crore.

While 1.5 crore health and frontline workers have received at least one dose, 61.68 lakh have also received the second dose, indicating that merely 50% of the estimated three crore health and frontline workers have been covered with the first dose so far.

The increase in coverage is largely driven by people above 60 years of age, accounting for nearly 33% of the total doses given till Tuesday evening. Besides, 21.43 lakh doses have also been given to those between 45 to 60 years age with specific co-morbidities.
The government expanded the coverage to an age-prioritised population from March 1.

Experts point to an urgent need to ramp up coverage by relaxing age restrictions, targeted vaccinations in high-burden districts, increasing the intervening period between two doses to achieve maximum coverage with the available doses and allowing more vaccines to expand the kitty.

"In view of the large number of unvaccinated people, who are likely to become victims of a possible second surge, it is important to step up vaccination fast in the currently given categories and, additionally, open it up to all up to 30 years of age. Any possible shortage of vaccines could be made up by including more vaccines, increasing production and delaying the second dose of Covishield vaccine up to 8-12 weeks which has been suggested by the WHO," said Dr Anoop Misra, chairman, Fortis C-Doc.

"Not covering the vulnerable population fast and wide enough is a missed opportunity. There is a mismatch between demand and supply; production constraints might be a limiting factor," said Giridhar Babu, member of the national task force for Covid-19 and epidemiologist at the Public Health Foundation of India.