Uttar Pradesh accounted for the maximum number of persons vaccinated, followed by Rajasthan and Karnataka, the Health Ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
U.P. has so far inoculated 4.6 lakh healthcare workers, or about 12% of its intended beneficiaries, whereas Rajasthan has covered 3.2 lakh (8.8%) and Karnataka 3.1 lakh (8.4%). Eight States accounted for 63% of the vaccinations.
Since the vaccination drive began on Saturday, India has averaged between 2-3 lakh vaccinations a day. However, the second half of the week saw a spike in the number of vaccinations, with over 5 lakh vaccinations reported on January 27 and 28. Even so, the number of vaccinations remains around half of what it should have been, with 68,962 vaccination sessions held in the last fortnight that ought to have resulted in 68 lakh inoculations. However, as on Sunday, India has achieved around 35 lakh COVID-19 vaccinations.
Also read: Coronavirus | Plan to accelerate vaccine drive
To avoid wastage of vaccines, the government has announced plans to include frontline workers in its vaccination drive from Monday. India’s stated target is to innoculate 3 crore healthcare and frontline workers.
India’s active caseload dropped to 1.68 lakh persons, or about 1.57% of the country’s COVID-19 caseload. About 80% of the total active cases are in five States or Union Territories with two States — Kerala and Maharashtra — accounting for 70% of India’s total active cases.
There have been 127 COVID-19 deaths recorded in the last 24 hours and six States/UTs account for 74.02% of the daily deaths. Maharashtra saw the maximum casualties (42). Kerala follows with 18 daily deaths, and West Bengal and Chhattisgarh reported nine casualties each.
India also began a polio immunisation drive on Sunday, with close to 89 lakh children given polio drops in a single day. Vaccinations were conducted at close to seven lakh booths staffed with around 12 lakh vaccinators and 1.8 lakh supervisors, the Health Ministry noted.
