Most COVID Vaccine Recipients Skipped Second Dose: Govt Data

New Delhi: The declining numbers of COVID cases being reported may boomerang going by the fact that a sizeable proportion of Indians have not been turning up for the second dose of the vaccine.

On Saturday, 7,668 beneficiaries received the second jab, according to the provisional data released by the Union health ministry. This is just 4 per cent of the over 1,91,000 healthcare workers who received their first dose on January 16, reported News18.

According to protocol, two doses of the two vaccines that have been cleared for use in India, Covishield and Covaxin, are supposed to be given 28 days apart. However, as per the recommendation of the apex drug regulator, the doses can be taken within a window of four to six weeks.

“The government has set a deadline of March 1 to complete the vaccination of the frontline workers across the country, with a five-day period for “mop up” activity to vaccinate those who might have been missed out,” joint secretary of the Union health ministry, Mandeep Bhandari was quoted as saying. For healthcare workers, the deadline is February 20.

India has been recording a steady decline in the number of daily new deaths since October 1, 2020, while the national recovery rates amongst the highest in the world, the Union Health Ministry said on Sunday. “Since 1st October 2020, the nation has seen an unabated decline in Case Fatality Rate. The Case Fatality Rate today stands below 1.5 (1.43 percent). India’s Case Fatality Rate is one of the lowest in the world,” it was quoted as saying.