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India’s booster dose coverage in the 18 – 59 age group is just around 12 per cent; while in the 60 plus age group, it is around 35 per cent, a senior official of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare told BusinessLine.
A total of 15.66 crore precautionary doses or booster shots have been administered in the country, as on August 30. The per day average (of administered booster shot) works out at around 22 lakh. According to sources, the eligible population in the 18 - 59 age-group is 77 crore, while in the 60-plus age-group it is close to 17 crore.
State specific data available shows Andaman and Nicobar Islands having the highest coverage for precautionary doses at 78 per cent of its eligible population, followed by Ladakh at 59 per cent and Puducherry at 42 per cent.
Other states with higher than 30 per cent coverage of booster shots include Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. Among the four most populous states – Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar and West Bengal – the coverage is 22 per cent, 13 per cent, 23 per cent, and 24 per cent, respectively.
Boost needed for boosters
The worst performing states include Meghalaya with a coverage of 8 per cent, Nagaland and Jharkhand, each with a coverage of 9 per cent respectively, and Punjab and Haryana – each with a booster dose coverage of 10 per cent. “Booster dose coverage continue to remain below expectation,” the official said.
India had opened up booster doses for adults (18 plus and above) from April 10. In a bid to push booster shots, a special 75-day campaign from July 15 to September 30 under the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav – where free vaccines will be provided to all eligible population – has also been initiated. The campaign is currently in its 46th day.
As per the MoHFW data, over 212.17 crore vaccines have already been administered in India. Around 102.29 crore first dose shots – covering 96 per cent of the eligible population – and 94.22 crore second dose shots- covering 89 per cent of it eligible population – in the 12 years and above age group have already been provided.
‘Right decision’
Meanwhile, the World Bank in a discussion paper has pointed out that, some of the actions taken by the Indian government – which includes centralised procurement through HLL Lifecare Ltd, a CPSE under the Ministry; coming up with well defined technical specifications for Covid protection equipments; supporting long term development and production of Emergency Medical Equipment; efficient distribution of medical supplies, setting up empowered inter-ministerial group to prompt procurement decisions; coming up with export restrictions early and funding private sector into domestic manufacturing – were some of the steps in the right decision.
The decisions saw India become an export surplus for country Covid commodities (from an import decision nation); scale up private testing labs to 2500 (from 18); reduce price of N-95 masks, RT-PCR test kits and develop low cost ICU ventitlators. It also ensured “nationwide aces of quality assured Covid commodities”, the paper noted.
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