Less than 17 crore jabs were given in October, down from almost 24 crore in September, while a record number of nearly 15 crore jabs are lying unutilised with states and private hospitals as on date, which is a three-time jump from the figure just a month ago.
All this is making the Centre consider an intervention in the matter and the reason why Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be holding an urgent review meeting on November 3, soon after landing back from the UK, to speak to 40 District Magistrates and 11 Chief Ministers regarding areas which are lagging behind in the vaccination drive.
Pictures of crowded markets during the festive season are also raising alarm at the Centre and advisories regarding enforcing the Covid-19 protocol could be reiterated to the states, with directions to impose fines for not wearing masks in public.
“We had five crore unutilised stock of vaccines with states as on October 1. As on the date, over 13 crore stocks are lying with the states and another two-odd crore with private hospitals — taking the total to 15 crore. Clearly, the states are not pushing hard on vaccinations while stocks are now aplenty,” a senior central government official told News18.
However, officials in two large states said the real problem was “vaccine hesitancy” and the “last lap of vaccinations being the hardest” as people who have not taken jabs over the last 10 months are the ones who are not inclined to take one at all. “It is a big challenge,” one official said.
The Centre is going to kick off its door-to-door vaccination drive in the poorly-performing districts from November 2 in a bid to increase the vaccination rate ahead of the December 31 target to fully vaccinate all 94 crore adults in the country.
Officials said the drive could be made country-wide too in the days to come as the effort is to motivate people to take the jabs and reach out to them. “Those who wanted the jabs have come to the centres and taken them. Now to convince those who do not want to take the jabs, the government will reach their door-step,” a senior official reasoned.
One major issue that is emerging in the matter is that people believe getting the first dose of the vaccine is enough and nearly 11 crore people who are overdue for the second dose have not come for the same.
“This is a major reason behind the high number of unutilised vaccine stocks presently. If these 11 crore people had taken their second jabs, the stocks would be at the same level as a month ago at about 5 crore,” an official in the Uttar Pradesh government said, the state which has the highest number of people (over a crore) who are overdue for their second dose.
The states have also told the Centre that the falling number of cases and the festive season has made people complacent and they have put off vaccination for the time being. “We hope to get higher numbers after the festive season is over in early November,” an official said. Opposition-ruled states like Jharkhand, Punjab and West Bengal are also struggling in increasing the vaccination numbers.
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