Vaccination drive: More people turning up for second dose compared to Sept

Second dose vaccinations are picking up pace, as the ratio of those turning up for the second dose is increasing

Last week India became the first country to administer 1 billion Coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccine doses to its population. While over 75 per cent of the population has received the first dose, second dose coverage has been a shade above 30 per cent. A significant reason for the lag in second dose coverage is the gap between two vaccine doses. For Covishield, which comprises 90 per cent of total doses administered, the time gap between two doses has been fixed at 8 to 12 weeks.

A recent BCG study indicated that vaccine hesitancy might also be a reason why people did not turn up for second doses. A survey of over 3,000 respondents by Boston Consulting Group’s (BCG’s) Centre of Customer Insight (CCI), released earlier this week, showed that 54-62 per cent of the people vaccinated with the first dose had a high willingness to take the second dose.

However, a Business Standard analysis highlights that on-ground hesitancy may be reducing. A study of second dose coverage starting August 20 shows that fewer people were turning up for the second dose until mid-September. There has been a turnaround since.

While unit-level data is not available for analysis, Business Standard analysed a separate set of data for first dose and second dose administration. For instance, October 13 was set as the cut-off date for second dose administration for those vaccinated between June 13 and July 21. The maximum gap between dose administration is four months, and the minimum interval is 84 days. Although not everyone who got vaccinated in July would turn up for vaccination until October 13, the data provides some insights into how second dose administration has progressed.

The gap between the first dose and second dose administration on August 22 was 2.4 million; in the subsequent weeks, this increased to 18 million on September 11 and further to 48 million on September 14. But the gap has been falling since. On October 1, it had fallen back to 17 million, and on October 13, the gap was just 8 million between the two doses.

In percentage terms, 4.5 per cent of those administered the first dose did not turn up until August 22; the gap increased to 40 per cent until September 14. On October 13, the gap was again in single digits to 6.5 per cent.
 

One can draw two insights from this development. Either more people are turning up for the second dose, or people are getting vaccinated faster than before. The reason could be the push from state governments to vaccinate more people before the festival season and some state governments issuing vaccine mandates for their employees.

In either scenario, second dose administrations are picking up.