New Delhi: There was a decrease in the average daily vaccination against Covid-19 which fell to 37.2 doses of lakh on Sunday 05-10 July from more than 61.1 lakh doses this week starting June 21 and almost 42 doses of lakh the following week (28 June – July 4), Cowin data shows.
While the decline in vaccination has raised concerns, the government expects to maintain the average every day of the dose of 40-45 lakh in July with a minimum supply of 12 doses of crore this month, said an official source.
According to sources, the slowdown in vaccination was mainly due to some disruption at the Bengaluru Biotech factory which resulted in the delay in supply of several kovagin batches which were expected earlier this month.
“This is a new facility with a large-scale fermentation factory.
The batch of trial is disrupted during the standardization process and therefore, the supply of covaxin is less than expected.
Which has been sorted now,” the official said.
Cowin data showed a decline mainly driven by the number of people who started the first dose and lower uptake in rural areas.
Between June 25-30, the number of daily doses managed in rural areas is in the range of 9.9 lakh-40.4 lakh.
However, it fell to a dose of lakh lakh-38.1 between July 1-9.
In urban areas, the daily dose varies from 8.2 lakh-31.8 doses of lakh for June 25-30, while for July 1-9, around 7.6 lakh -27.8 doses of lakh given.
“The combination of progressive reopening and the amount of vaccination decreases is dangerous.
We are not really protected from the current Delta variant until we vaccinate the full 60-70% of the population in December.
For that we need to manage 90 lakh to 1 dose of crore per day.
And it requires a vaccine stock that seems to be a short walk.
If we can’t vaccinate enough, I’m worried we need to be obsessed with the appropriate behavior of Covid and think back relaxed restrictions, “said Dr.
Arvinder Soin, Chairperson, Medanta’s liver transplant institute.
However, the average daily vaccination still remains above the Pre-21 level and officials say the vaccination rate is likely to increase again in the following weeks.