New Delhi: A decline in average daily vaccination against the coronavirus has been seen since June 21. It was the same day when the new phase of universalisation of Covid-19 vaccination commenced, data released by the Health Ministry showed. This development has become a worrying thought among the officials of the department. According to data available on the CoWIN platform, an average of 61.14 lakh doses of Covid-19 vaccine was administered daily in the week from June 21-27. It dropped to 41.92 lakh doses daily in the subsequent week from June 28-July 4. In the week from July 5 to July 11, the daily average vaccine doses number further dipped to 34.32 lakh doses.
Among states, however, a mixed trend has emerged. States such as Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh showed a decline in average daily vaccinations since the week from June 21-27. A mixed trend in administration of daily doses of Covid-19 was seen in states and UTs like Kerala, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Jammu and Kashmir, according to CoWIN data.
In the states of Assam and Tripura which recently reported a rise in fresh Covid-19 cases, a declining trend in administration of average daily vaccine doses can be seen.
The Health Ministry said Monday over 1.54 crore balance and unutilised COVID-19 vaccine doses are still available with the states, UTs and private hospitals to be administered. The cumulative vaccine doses administered so far has reached 37.73 crore under the Nationwide Vaccination Drive.
Some states like Maharashtra, which recorded the highest number of Covid-19 cases Monday, raised the need for more vaccine doses. Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope said the state needs a minimum of three crore vaccine doses per month to inoculate the entire eligible population against coronavirus at the earliest.
Gujarat, on the other hand, said it has so far received an ‘adequate’ number of vaccine doses from the Centre to inoculate people against Covid -19 and the state still has a stock of around seven lakh doses. According to official estimates, Gujarat requires a total of 9.6 crore doses to fully vaccinate its eligible population.