Covid-19 vaccination drive: Two-thirds of adult population vaccinated with first dose

V K Paul, member, health, Niti Aayog, said vaccination coverage was now phenomenally significant and it was an important milestone for the country.

The country has vaccinated two-thirds of its adult population with the first dose and almost a quarter with both doses of the Covid-19 vaccine.

Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan said on Thursday that 66% of the eligible adult population of the country have received their first dose and 23% have received both doses. Till Thursday, 62.39 crore people had been administered with the first dose and 21.71 crore had received their second dose.

In September, the country has administered 81.76 lakh average daily doses, compared to 59.19 lakh in August. Total doses administered in the first 22 days of September stood at 17.99 crore compared to 18.35 crore in August.

V K Paul, member, health, Niti Aayog, said vaccination coverage was now phenomenally significant and it was an important milestone for the country. He urged for further acceleration in the pace to cover all those who are yet to be vaccinated, and that new outbreaks cannot be ruled out.

The Ministry of health and family welfare on Thursday also approved home vaccination for persons with disabilities and the elderly with restricted mobility. States and Union Territories have been asked to facilitate vaccination at home using mobile vaccination teams for those who are bedridden, have extremely restricted mobility or disability, or have special needs. They will need to follow SOPs related to maintenance of cold chain, prescribed temperature, safe injections, waste disposal and adverse events following immunisation.

Health officials said Covid-19 still remains a grave public health challenge, with 3.01 lakh active cases and 31,923 daily new cases in the country. Thirty-three districts are still reporting test positivity of more than 10%.

The health secretary has written to states about the critical festival period in October and November and the tendency among people to ignore Covid-appropriate behaviour during festivities. Any laxity could lead to serious consequences and a surge in cases, the health secretary said.

States have been asked to impose stringent containment measures if test positivity crosses 10% or if bed occupancy in hospitals is more than 60% in ICU or oxygen-supported beds.