After administering a record-breaking 16.9 lakh vaccine doses on single day on Monday — the highest among all States — Madhya Pradesh plummeted to a record low of only 4,563 shots on Tuesday, according to data on the CoWin portal .
India posted an all-time high of 89 lakh doses on Monday, the first day of the new liberalised policy with the Centre procuring vaccines on behalf of the States. While many States had substantially increased the number of vaccines administered, M.P., Haryana and Karnataka had posted the most significant increases when compared to the average daily doses per month.
Until its feat on Monday, M.P. had at most administered five lakh doses per day in June. While vaccination in most States dips around the weekend, it had plummeted to only 692 doses in the State on Sunday, a day before the drive. However, the daily doses in M.P. have remained above 5,000 in June.
Unless there is a revision to the data, Tuesday’s figures is would be an all-time low in Madhya Pradesh barring the Sunday anomaly. There were 3,100 vaccination sessions in the State on Monday, which and that fell to 264 on Tuesday with capital Bhopal only recording 453 inoculations on Tuesday from 150,000 on Monday.
Media reports said that on Monday, which the Centre celebrates as International Yoga Day, M.P. had a concerted vaccination drive with Chief Minister, Shivraj Chouhan, personally visiting sites and monitoring progress.
Karnataka too posted a decline from the Monday’s high with only 3.8 lakh shots on Tuesday evening compared to 11 lakh on Monday. However, the State has consistently administered over 3 lakh shots since June 5 and so the Tuesday's numbers aren't an aberration.
Haryana which administered 5 lakh doses on Monday fell to about 74,000 on Tuesday which again isn't too far outside its normal range. The peaks it has attained in June are a little over 1 lakh doses a day.
Uttar Pradesh, which administered 7.25 lakh doses on Monday followed it up with 7.41 lakh doses on Tuesday and this is above it's average of over 4 lakh doses daily. Maharashtra administered 5.48 lakh doses on Tuesday, more than the 3.83 lakh on Monday.
On Tuesday, India had administered 51 lakh doses — a significant number against its average this month of a little above 35 lakh doses. Health Ministry officials on Tuesday insisted that Monday’s numbers weren’t a flash in the pan.
“The increase in vaccinations yesterday wasn't sudden. The average number of vaccinations was nearly 34 lakh per day from June 1 to June 21. To go from there to 88 lakh is possible, when vaccines and capacity is available. This was a result of coordinated planning between States and Centre and is expected to continue,” Rajesh Bhushan, Secretary, Ministry of Health said at a press conference on Tuesday.