Covid: Low vaccination among women worries Centre

NEW DELHI: Even as India is inching closer to covering almost half of its adult population with at least the first dose of Covid vaccines, the Centre is concerned about the low uptake of jabs among women, particularly in states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. Overall, about 46% of total 52.2 crore doses administered so far have been given to women.
“At present, the gap between the coverage among male and females is about 7-8%. This is slightly on the higher side given that there is not much difference in the overall adult male and female population ratio. The gap in immunisation coverage between the two genders should not be more than 2-3%,” a senior official said.
The issue was discussed in the recent meeting of the National Expert Group for Vaccine Administration for Covid-19 (NEGVAC) last week and the Centre now plans to run a dedicated social mobilisation campaign to increase the coverage among female population. While the coverage among females has improved since April, when the gap was about 10%, officials say the improvement is primarily driven by the beginning of Covid vaccination among pregnant women.
Till July 30, over 2.3 lakh pregnant women had received the first dose of anti-Covid jabs. The current gender distortion is also more significant among elderly population than in younger females, the official said. However, in some states like Kerala and Himachal Pradesh, more women have received anti-Covid shots than men. The Centre plans to work with Unicef and state government to ramp up coverage among women.