Coronavirus vaccine: Over 7k get second dose, 80 lakh-plus vaccinated so far

More than 7,000 frontline healthcare workers completed their two-dose immunisation schedule as the country began administering the second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine on Saturday.

In India, both Serum Institute’s Covishield and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin have the same course and schedule: two doses scheduled to be administered four weeks apart.

The vaccine rollout started 28 days ago, and the two lakh beneficiaries who were given the first shot on Day 1 will be administered the second dose. According to official data, 7,668 healthcare workers received the second dose on Saturday. The country touched the 80-lakh mark on Day 28 — 59,35,275 healthcare workers (HCWs) and 21,17,179 frontline workers (FLWs) have been inoculated.

The Indian regulator has said that the second dose vaccine can be administered within a period of four to six weeks. According to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, 15 states and Union territories began administering the second dose on Saturday.

The top five states and UTs in terms of beneficiaries given the second dose are Andhra Pradesh (3,434), Jharkhand (920), West Bengal (896), Jammu and Kashmir (807), and Tripura (366).

On Saturday, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan chaired a detailed review of the status and progress of the vaccination drive with all states and UTs.

As of Saturday, 12 states and UTs have administered the first dose to more than 70 per cent of the registered HCWs. These include Bihar, Lakshadweep, Tripura, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Rajasthan, Mizoram and Sikkim.

Also, seven states and UTs have reported less than 40 percent coverage of registered HCWs, including Meghalaya, Punjab, Manipur, Tamil Nadu, Chandigarh, Nagaland and Puducherry.

The country has so far reported 27 deaths, however, the Centre has said that they are not attributable to the vaccination. “In the last 24 hours, three new deaths have been reported. Out of which, a 38-year-old person, a resident of Harda, Madhya Pradesh, died due to myocardial infarction after 9 days of vaccination. Another is a 35-year-old resident of Panipat, Haryana, suffering from pneumonia with acute respiratory distress syndrome, who died after eight days of vaccination. Post-mortem details are awaited. A 58-year-old resident of Dausa, Rajasthan, collapsed on duty and was brought dead to the hospital after taking the vaccine. His post-mortem details are also awaited,” the health ministry said.

According to the official data, the country has reported 34 cases where the beneficiaries were hospitalised after vaccination. “Of the 34 cases of hospitalisation, 21 were discharged after treatment, while 11 died and 2 are under treatment. In the last 24 hours, no person has been hospitalised,” the health ministry said.