Vadodara inching towards 100% first dose coverage

Vadodara: The city seems to have raced ahead of others when it comes to Covid-19 vaccination. Nearly 12 lakh persons in the city have taken at least one dose of the vaccine.
Despite hiccups, the vaccination drive in the city has continued steadily. According to Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) data, 11,89,500 persons have taken the first dose so far while 4,31,629 persons have taken the second shot of the vaccine.
In the absence of any other concrete data, the civic body considers the number of voters in the city as a rough estimate of the number of persons that have to be vaccinated. In the latest civic elections for VMC, 14,46,212 voters were registered in the city. If one considers this figure, over 82% of adults in the city have been vaccinated.
Officials, however, said that the number of persons who have been vaccinated with the first dose has crossed 90%. “The target population data has been worked out by the state government and by that figure, we have crossed 90% vaccination,” said VMC’s medical officer (health) Dr Devesh Patel.
Sources said that some discrepancy in data will remain in the absence of the exact figure of adults in the city. Another reason is that many from outside the city have been vaccinated here. At the same time, many from the city took vaccines outside.
“When there was a rush for vaccination in the city, many went to public health centres in nearby villages and even districts. At the same time, many from the rural areas may have taken vaccines in the city when the 18-44 years age group vaccination began here and not in rural areas,” said an official.
The coverage of second dose in the city presently stands at nearly 30% of the total population.
The percentage of persons taking the second dose is gradually increasing with a rise in the total number of jabs given every day.