New Delhi: Around 11 crore people who have taken the first shot of COVID-19 vaccine have not got themselves jabbed with the second dose even after the expiry of the prescribed interval between two doses, according to government data.
The data showed that over 3.92 crore beneficiaries are more than six weeks overdue for their second dose, around 1.57 crore are up to four to six weeks late, and more than 1.50 crore are up to two to four weeks overdue for their second shot of either Covishield or Covaxin.
Also, over 3.38 crore people are up to two weeks overdue to becoming fully vaccinated.
This issue was discussed in a meeting chaired by Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya with health ministers and representatives of all states and Union territories on Wednesday. They were asked to focus on such beneficiaries who are overdue for their second dose, official sources said.
The gap between the first and second dose is 12 weeks for Covishield and four weeks for Covaxin. Both doses are needed for adequate protection against severe COVID-19 infection and hospitalisation.
Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Bihar together account for around 49 per cent of such beneficiaries who are late for their second dose of vaccine.
The Union Health Ministry has also written to several states and UTs 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, sources said. More than 76 per cent of India's adult population has received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, with nine states and union territories administering the first dose to all eligible people. The eleven states and UTs which completed second dose coverage to more than 50 per cent of eligible beneficiaries are Lakshadweep, Sikkim, Goa, Ladakh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Daman and Diu, Arunachal Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir.
Over 32 per cent of the country's around 94 crore adults have been administered both the doses, Health Ministry officials said, adding the cumulative doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive has exceeded 103.53 crore.
India logged 13,451 new Coronavirus infections, taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,42,15,653 out of which 3,35,97,339 people have recuperated from the disease, while the active cases declined to 1,62,661, the lowest in 242 days.
The death toll climbed to 4,55,653 with 585 fresh fatalities that include 482 from Kerala and 32 from Maharashtra, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.33 per cent, according to the data updated at 8 am on Wednesday.
The daily rise in new Coronavirus infections has been below 30,000 for 33 straight days and less than 50,000 daily new cases have been reported for 122 consecutive days.
The active cases comprise 0.48 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.19 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the ministry said.
A decrease of 1,155 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.
The daily positivity rate was recorded at 1.03 per cent. It has been less than 2 per cent for last 23 days. The weekly positivity rate was also recorded at 1.22 per cent. It has been below
two per cent for the last 33 days, according to
the ministry.