More than 10.34 crore Indians have not received second dose of the coronavirus vaccine even after the prescribed interval between the two jabs elapsed, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said in a review meeting of the inoculation drive on Wednesday.
Mandaviya asked the health ministers of various states to increase the pace and widen the coverage of vaccination against Covid-19, the health ministry said in a statement.
“Let us aim to cover all eligible [citizens] with first dose of Covid-19 vaccine by end-November 2021,” Manadaviya said, adding that more than 12 crore doses were available with the states.
Over 3.92 crore vaccine beneficiaries are more than six weeks overdue for their second dose and around 1.57 crore are late by up to four to six weeks, PTI reported on Wednesday, citing government data.
More than 1.50 crore people have not received second dose of the vaccine even as two to four weeks have gone by since the prescribed interval was over. Over 3.38 crore people are up to two weeks overdue from being fully vaccinated, according to the data cited by PTI.
Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Bihar together account for around 49% of the beneficiaries who are late for their second dose of vaccine.
The prescribed interval between two doses of the Covishield vaccine is 12 weeks to 16 weeks, and four to six weeks in case of Covaxin.
According to the government’s CoWIN platform, over 104.11 crore doses of the Covid-19 vaccine have been administered in the country till Thursday morning.
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