Bengal second best on fully vaccinated list

KOLKATA: Bengal has been able to completely vaccinate over 90 lakh people, which is the second highest in the country after Maharashtra. Among the fully vaccinated in Bengal, over 13 lakh are in Kolkata.
Despite the slowdown in the second dose vaccination in August, Bengal has been able to completely vaccinate more people than other large states as it pushed to clear the second-dose backlog in May and July.

The slowdown has been largely evident since July 19, when those who were being given the first dose outnumbered the second-dose recipients. Till July 19, Bengal had been administering more second doses than first doses. These numbers peaked on July 17 when 2.2 lakh people were given the second dose while 1.6 lakh people received their first doses. This also coincided with KMC clinics and mega centres prioritising second-dose vaccinations. From July 11-17, on three days, more than 2 lakh people were vaccinated with the second dose.
This pattern of more second doses than first was first noticed in Bengal in Apriland continued till mid-May when the second wave peaked. From May 15, the first doses were administered in a larger scale, which continued in June. In the first three weeks of July, the state again prioritised second doses to clear the backlog and the trend reversed.
However, vaccination data on the Co-Win dashboard shows a complete reversal of the trend since July 19. Last week, the state had thrice vaccinated more than 4 lakh people. August 2 was the highest with 4.4 lakh — 3.5 lakh got the first dose, and 83,139 received their second. This pattern was repeated on August 3 and August 5.
The trend since August — where more first doses are administered than second — reflects a nationwide trend.