Distribution of second dose of Covid vaccine begins across India

New Delhi: India has begun administering the second dose of coronavirus vaccine to healthcare workers from Saturday as part of the first phase of the massive inoculation drive.

Only the first dose has been given to healthcare workers till Friday since the drive has begun on January 16.

Two vaccines – Covishield manufactured by Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech's Covaxin – have been approved by the Drugs regulator for restricted emergency use in India.

The number of healthcare and frontline workers vaccinated against COVID-19 has reached 77.66 lakh on the 28th day of the countrywide inoculation programme, the Union Health Ministry said on Friday.

The cumulative number of healthcare and frontline workers vaccinated against COVID-19 till 6 pm on Friday is 77,66,319as per the provisional report, the ministry said.

These include 58,65,813 healthcare workers (58.9 per cent of the target number) and 19,00,506 frontline workers (21.2 per cent of the target beneficiaries) whose vaccination started onFebruary2, it said.

"A total 2,61,309 beneficiaries were vaccinated till 6 pm on Friday across 35 states and Uts. These include 50,837 HCWs and 2,10,472 FLWs as per provisional figures," the ministry said, adding that the final report would be completed by late night.

Ten states which recorded the highest number of vaccinations on Friday are Uttar Pradesh (68,135), Maharashtra (24,946), Madhya Pradesh (21,897), Jammu and Kashmir (17,900), West Bengal (17,609), Gujarat (16,069), Karnataka (13,741), Chhattisgarh (11,988), Jharkhand (10,488) and Odisha (7,279), said Mandeep Bhandari, joint secretary in the Ministry.

Twelve states and Union Territories - Bihar, Tripura, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Odisha, Himachal Pradesh, Lakshadweep, Kerala, Mizoram, Chhattisgarh, Sikkim and Rajasthan have vaccinated over 70 per cent of the registered HCWs, he said.

On the other hand, eight states and UTs have reported less than 40 per cent coverage of vaccinating HCWs. They are Delhi, Punjab, Chandigarh, Tamil Nadu, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, and Puducherry.

A total of 33 people have been hospitalized so far which comprises 0.0004 per cent of the total vaccinations.

Of the 33 cases of hospitalization, 21 were discharged after treatment, while 10 died and two are under treatment, the ministry said.

In the last 24 hours, one person who is suffering from Anaphylaxis has been treated at Murshidabad Medical College and Hospital, West Bengal and has been discharged.

A total of 24 deaths have been recorded till date. These comprise 0.0003 per cent of the total vaccinations, the ministry said.

No new death has been reported in the past 24 hours, the ministry said.

"No case of serious/severe AEFI/Death is attributable to the vaccination till date," Bhandari stated.

States and UTs have been advised that all HCWs should be scheduled for vaccination at least once by February 20 this year and through mop-up rounds by February 25.

The scheduling of all FLWs for vaccination at least once by March 1, 2021 and mop-up rounds of FLWs by March 6, 2021 has also been advised, the ministry said.