Some north-eastern states lagging in Covid vaccination, shows data

At the current pace, some states in the northeast will take two years to vaccinate their entire eligible population

India was able to administer 22 million Covid vaccine doses on a mission mode on September 17, but five states administered 55 per cent of those doses.

Although the country is averaging 5.6 million doses daily, the administration of vaccines is inequitable. At the current pace, India will be able to completely vaccinate its adult population by April 2022—assuming there is a hiatus of four months to administer the second dose of Covishield. But state-wide variations show that if attention is not paid to the lagging states, it may take another two years to vaccinate the entire country.

Smaller states like Goa, Himachal Pradesh have been able to administer the first dose to their entire population. Larger states like Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand and West Bengal may only be able to cover the eligible population with the first dose (above 18 years of age) by February next year.

Uttar Pradesh has been administering 723,514 first doses daily, and on September 20, had covered just 50 per cent of its eligible population. Tamil Nadu has been able to administer the first dose to 58 per cent of people and vaccinates 0.55 per cent of its eligible population daily. It would take 77 days to cover its entire population.

Madhya Pradesh is less than a month away from administering first doses to its eligible population. Maharashtra, which has administered the first dose to 61 per cent of the people, will take 65 days to partially vaccinate all 18+ adults in the state.

North-eastern states are the worst performers. Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Manipur are slowest with vaccinations. Manipur has covered 61 per cent of its population with the first dose but administered under 1,000 doses in the last seven days. At this pace, it would cover the entire population with a first dose by January 2024. The peak daily first dose vaccination for Manipur was over 21,000. Meghalaya and Nagaland would only be able to administer the first dose for all by 2023.

The reasons for the slow pace of vaccination are not clear, as the latest figures on vaccine allocation and availability with the states are not available.

Whether the states will be able to administer the doses to the entire population is also suspect. Western countries, like the US, are experiencing vaccine hesitancy, and some Indian states are also exhibiting this trend.

In West Bengal, despite only 50 per cent of the population with first dose vaccination, not only the proportion of first doses reduced from 70 per cent to 63 per cent in the last fortnight, but the number of first doses administered has also reduced from 410,000 to 380,000.

Similarly, in Uttar Pradesh, a 4.1 per cent decline in the proportion of first doses has been accompanied by a decrease in first dose administration from 835,975 to 723,514.