Lakshadweep is close to achieving full COVID-19 vaccination of its eligible population while the coverage is more than 70% in Sikkim, Goa and Andaman and Nicobar Islands, sources said on Saturday as the cumulative vaccine doses administered in the country crossed 108 crore.
Around 78.7% of India’s adult population has received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, with nine States and Union Territories administering the first dose to all its 18-plus age group population, according to Union Health Ministry officials.
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All adults in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Lakshadweep, Sikkim, Uttarakhand and Dadra and Nagar Haveli have received at least one dose of vaccine.
More than 36% of the country’s around 94 crore adult population has been administered both the doses, the officials said.
“Lakshadweep (99.2%) is close to achieving full COVID-19 vaccination of its eligible population, while Sikkim has achieved 87.8%, Goa 79.7% and Andaman and Nicobar Islands 72.2%,” an official source said.
The States that have administered the highest number of doses are Uttar Pradesh followed by Maharashtra, West Bengal, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.
The Ministry has also written to several States and Union Territories asking them to prioritise administering the second dose to beneficiaries who have not got themselves jabbed with the second shot even after the expiry of the prescribed interval between the two doses, the sources said.
The government recently launched a month-long “Har Ghar Dastak” campaign for house-to-house COVID-19 vaccination of those who are yet to take a dose and those whose second dose is overdue.
