Dileep. V. Kumar /Thiruvananthapuram ,June 3
A staggering 33 lakh people, who are 18 plus of age in the state are yet to take their second jab of the COVID vaccine. As of the vaccination stat available till June 1st, those who had taken their second dose were 2, 35, 83, 786. Meanwhile, those who took the first dose were 2, 69, 67,924. The state health department had identified 2, 66, 34, 508 as the targeted population for COVID vaccination among the 18-plus age group.
According to health officials, this slow pace in vaccination will be detrimental to the state’s COVID containment measures
These 33 lakh people (33,84,138 ) who are yet to take their second jab include health care workers, frontline workers, and people belonging to various age groups.
“Among the targeted population (18+), 101% had taken their first jab. But in the case of the second jab, it’s 88%. It’s high time that an examination will have to be conducted to understand the reasons behind this sluggish pace for taking the second jab,” said an officer at the Directorate of Health Services.
Upon analyzing the vaccination stat it was found that 45,368 healthcare workers and 35,256 frontline workers are yet to take their second dose.
In the case of age-specific stat,
A whooping 21, 28, 652 belonging to the 18-44 age group
6, 57, 974 belonging to the 45-59 age group
5, 16,888 people belonging to the 60+ age group
Are yet to take their second jab.
At the same time, when considering the state as a whole, which will include children from the 12 to 17 age group, the targeted population is 2, 91, 62,697. Out of this 2, 87, 81,541took the first jab, and 2, 45, 76,189 took their second jab. That means, 42 lakh (42,05,352) are yet to take their second jab.
In the case of children between 12 to 14 and 15 to 17 age group, those who had to take their second jab are 3, 89,680, and 4, 31,534 respectively.
Meanwhile, health department officials said that the stat of children 8, 21,214 can’t be included among those who are yet to take their second jab as their vaccination drive had begun only recently.
The state had started vaccination jabs for priority groups including those who are 60 plus and those belonging to 45 to 59 years of age on March 1st, 2021. In the case of those belonging to the 18 to 44 age group, the vaccination drive was started on May 17, 2021.
In the case of children, vaccination among the 15 to 18 age group was started on January 19, 2022. In the case of those belonging to the 12 to 14 age group, the inoculation drive was started on March 16, 2022.
It has been mandated that after receiving the first dose, the second dose of the Covishield vaccine is to be taken between 12–16 weeks and the second dose of Covaxin between 4-6 weeks. Those who had taken both doses were provided with the booster dose/ precaution dose – the time gap being fixed as nine months after the second dose.
In the state, among the 18+ category, 17, 65, 125 (22%) had taken the precaution dose as of June 1st data.
While COVID vaccines are not 100% effective in preventing the infection, those who got vaccinated are reported to have reduced Covid-related ICU admissions, serious disease, and death.
