'Human Tragedy' Looms as UP, TN, Bengal Among States with Low Vaccination Tally for Senior Citizens

Amid an imminent third wave of Covid-19, states Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal that have a large population of senior citizens have shown low Covid vaccination rate per 1,000 population within this age group.

According to ORF’s Covid vaccine tracker of vaccination data till August 27, the national average of doses administered per 1,000 people in the age bracket of 60 years and above was estimated at 947.13.

While West Bengal administered 853.48, UP and Tamil Nadu gave 651.12 and 523.05 doses respectively. All these three states have over one crore elderly population in this age bracket.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra, with a population of 1.45 crore population above 60 years, administered 951.12 doses per 1,000 to such people, slightly higher than the national average.

“The next wave is likely to be limited to states where overall seroprevalence, both infection as well as vaccine induced, is low. However, if the vaccine coverage of elderly population is still low, there is a huge risk of the human tragedy repeating in terms of deaths and suffering,” Oommen C Kurian, senior fellow, health initiative at ORF, told The Times of India.

“Unless vaccine coverage of the elderly is accelerated, elderly population may bear the brunt of the next wave,” he added.

Till August 27, 61.6% of 60 plus population has received at least one dose and 31.4% has got both the doses, as per ORF tracker.

Meanwhile, smaller states and Union Territories like Sikkim , Mizoram, Lakshadweep, Chandigarh and Andaman and Nicobar have wider coverage of doses of Covid-19 vaccine per 1,000 population of 60 years and above.

The daily COVID-19 vaccinations crossed the one crore mark on Tuesday for the second time in five days, taking the cumulative doses administered in the country to over 65 crore, the Union Health Ministry said. A record high of over 1.28 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses were given on Tuesday, according to the CoWIN portal data.

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said the highest one-day record of 1.09 crore vaccine doses has been achieved till 6 PM. Mandaviya lauded the entire country for the achievement of more than one crore doses being administered for the second day within a span of five days.

He also praised the hard work of COVID warriors and the diligence of citizens in helping achieve the momentous feat of more than 50 crore cumulative administrations of the first dose of the vaccine. “Another milestone achieved in the world’s largest vaccination drive under PM @NarendraModi ji. 50 crore people received their first #COVID19 vaccine dose.

“I applaud the hard work of COVID warriors and diligence of citizens in helping achieve this momentous feat,” Mandaviya tweeted. “Congratulations, as India administers another 1 crore #COVID19 vaccinations today Highest one-day record of 1.09 crore vaccine doses achieved till 6 pm – and still counting! Under PM @NarendraModi ji, India is fighting strongly against corona,” he said in another tweet.

India took 85 days to touch the figure of 10 crore. It then took 45 days to cross the 20-crore mark and 29 more days to reach 30 crore. The country took 24 days to reach 40 crore and then 20 more days to cross 50 crore vaccinations on August 6. It took 19 more days to go past the 60-crore mark on August 25. “India’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage has crossed 65 crore (65,12,14,767) landmark milestone today,” the health ministry said in a statement.

The daily vaccination tally is expected to increase with the compilation of the final reports for the day by late night. Cumulatively, 25,32,89,059 individuals in the age group of 18-44 years across states and UTs have received their first dose and 2,85,62,650 have received their second dose since the start of phase-3 of the vaccination drive, according to the health ministry which cited a provisional report till 7 PM.

According to an official source, on an average 74.09 lakh vaccine doses have been administered daily in India in the last one week. “No other country has been vaccinating its people at such a fast pace as India.

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