Bihar second from last in vax coverage: Govt data

PATNA: Bihar is the second last state after Uttar Pradesh in vaccinating its population against coronavirus. The state has so far inoculated only 15.11% of its eligible population with the first dose of the vaccines. Uttar Pradesh has vaccinated only 14.45% of its population, according to the data shared by the Ministry of Health.
However, the state was at 8th place in the country in administering the total number of first doses among all the three age groups. Altogether 1.02 crore people have received their first doses while 21,03,774 have got the second shots in the state so far, which took the cumulative figure of vaccination up to 1.23 crore.
The state health department’s bulletin showed that maximum 34.3 lakh beneficiaries who have taken their first shots are in 60 and above age group, closely followed by 31.9 lakh in the 45-59 and 26.3 lakh in above 18 years age group.
One of the main reasons behind the poor performance of Bihar in administering Covid vaccines was the dense population of the state, said Dr Rajiv Ranjan Prasad, former president of Indian Medical Association (IMA), Bihar.
Bihar, with a total population of 128 million people, is the third most densely populated state after Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.
“Secondly, Bihar is the economically backward state could not procure the number of doses required. The non-availability of vaccines and poor monitoring of the drive are also some of the reasons in lagging behind other states in vaccinating its population. Vaccine implementation team should be formed at state, district, sub-divisional and block levels,” Dr Rajiv said.
The pace of vaccination was also slowed down due to non-availability of vaccines for some duration as well as hesitancy among rural population to take theshots.
Noted surgeon Dr AA Hai attributed multiple reasons behind the poor show, including the lack of awareness and hesitancy among large sections of the population. “Rumours are associated with the vaccine, which scared the people. Had our community been educated, the situation would not have been like this. The state government needs to be more active. First they started vaccination in both government and private health facilities, then they stopped giving the doses to the the private facilities, which also gave a bad impression,” he said.
“Dithering about the second dose after four, six or eight weeks meant incongruity about the facts,” Dr Hai added.
Dr Ajay Kumar, senior vice-president of IMA-Bihar, attributed the slow pace of the drive to non-availability of vaccines. “If we get enough stock, the state can perform better. More people will be vaccinated if the government provides free vaccines to private health facilities as well,” he said.
Noted gynaecologist Dr Manju Geeta Mishra said people, especially in rural areas, are hesitant to take the vaccine. “This has led to poor performance of state in vaccinating the population. People are scared because of rumours associated with it like the vaccine causes impotency or even death. The government health facilities are also wasting the vaccines,” she said.