Covid-19: Top five states by daily vaccination numbers as new policy kicks in

India’s new Covid-19 vaccination policy kicked in on Monday and saw the highest number of vaccines being administered since the start of the entire inoculation campaign as the Centre shouldered the responsibility of supplying vaccines free of cost to all adults in the country.

The Centre has said states had been given visibility on the number of vaccine doses available to them in the month of June by the Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare beforehand, which helped them plan out their vaccine distribution strategy district-wise in an efficient manner and underpinned the record rollout of almost 81 lakh doses.

So far, more than 28.7 crore doses have been doled out, and over 17 per cent of the population has received at least one dose.

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Madhya Pradesh was, by far, the state that administered the most vaccines on Monday, distributing 15.4 lakh doses, out of which the district of Indore itself accounted for more than 2.12 lakh doses — nearly three times the number of doses administered in Delhi.

The state overshot its initial 10-lakh-dose target as around 7,000 vaccination centres were set up across the state’s 52 districts and local administration organised transport to reach and return from vaccination centres, with special attention towards the elderly and disabled.

Karnataka came runner-up with 10.67 lakh shots, though Bengaluru Urban clocked the most jabs in the entire nation at 2.14 lakh doses. The state breezed past its conservative target of seven lakh doses for the day.

India’s most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, was third on the list, pushing out 6.74 lakh jabs on Monday. The state’s vaccination coverage has so far been lagging in percentage terms, though the state government has plans to ramp up production to 10-12 lakh doses a day by July.

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Gujarat missed out on a podium finish but vaccinated more than 5 lakh people on Monday through a network of around 5,000 vaccination centres and a campaign that went onto the streets to spread vaccine awareness.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah is currently in the state on a two-day visit, where he will visit three vaccination centres to help spread the word about the state government’s inoculation drive.

Haryana administered more than 4.72 lakh doses according to the Centre’s figures, though the state government has claimed upwards of 6 lakh doses were administered on the day, with Gurugram vaccinating more than 1 lakh people on the day, according to state's home minister Anil Vij.