New Delhi, April 25

India has administered at least 2.66 crore jabs of the first dose among children in the 12-14 age group till Monday. Of these, over 57,000 were administered over the last 24 hours, according to data available from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

On the other hand, close to 30 lakh 12-14-year-olds have had their second jab, with nearly 34,000 of them being innoculated in the last 24 hours.

In terms of large States, Uttar Pradesh administered over 42,25,000 jabs (dose 1) among the age-group, almost double than that of Bihar, which administered close to 22,73,000 jabs.

West Bengal, amongst the top four populous states, has inoculated over 21,63,000 children; while Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh each have administered over 20,00,000 doses (dose 1).

Rajasthan has inoculated over 17,00,000 in the 12-14-year-old age group; Gujarat and Karnataka administered the first dose to 15,50,000 children each, while Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu vaccinated over 14,39,000 and 13,45,000, respectively, with first dose of the vaccine.

The National Capital of Delhi, which has been witnessing an uptick in cases, including among children – with fresh cases hovering at over 1000 over the last few days – administered over 487,000 jabs (dose 1) to the target age group.

Incidentally, Andhra Pradesh has administered the highest number of second doses at 7,53,000, while Gujarat administered over 3,07,000 doses. Uttar Pradesh administered just 70,000-odd doses, while Bihar inoculated just 67,000 with dose 2. Bengal has inoculated 166,000 plus.

A senior doctor, empanneled with the West Bengal government, said the pace continues to be slow and numbers need to pick up.

He cites the example of a State-run hospital, which had expected an increased uptick in adolescent vaccination and, had accordingly, made arrangements across two slots per day. However, there were some wastage of vials, which saw the hospital reschedule these.

“In one instance, of the 20 vials we expected to use, only 7 could be used, and 13-odd went waste. So, it was necessary to re-arrange schedules,” a senior official said.

Schools should also take pro-active role to get this age-group vaccinated, a government hospital doctor said, requesting anonymity.

According to Dr Santanu Sen, past National President of Indian Medical Association and a Trinamool Congress MP, there has been a “step motherly attitude meeted out by the Centre to some of the states including West Bengal”.

“Whatever Bengal has achieved is through its own capabilities. In fact, the Centre should first give a timeline by when it can expect to complete vaccination (two dosages) for all eligible adults,” he told BusinessLine.

Meanwhile, India reported 2,541 fresh Covid cases in the last 24 hours, marginally lower than 2,593 infections it recorded a day before. The total number of active cases of the country now stands at 16,522.

As many as 30 deaths were reported Monday, which include a backlog of 24 cases from Kerala, 2 deaths each in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra and one death each in Mizoram and Delhi.

The active cases comprise 0.04 per cent of the total infections, while the national Covid-19 recovery rate was recorded as 98.75 per cent, data from the Union Health Ministry said.

The daily positivity rate was recorded as 0.84 per cent and the weekly positivity rate as 0.54 per cent.

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