Average daily vaccination declines to 34.32 lakh between July 5-11

The cumulative vaccine doses administered so far has reached 37.73 crore under the Nationwide Vaccination Drive

After a high of 61.14 lakh average daily doses of Covid-19 vaccines in the week from June 21-27, the immunisation drive against the disease has slumped to 34.32 lakh doses in the week ending July 11.

The decline in vaccination numbers has been pronounced in states such as Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh since the June 21-27 week, while a mixed trend was visible in Kerala, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Jammu and Kashmir, according to data available on the Co-WIN platform.

In the last seven days, Uttar Pradesh has administered 36.9 lakh doses of vaccines followed by Maharashtra (21.2 lakh), Madhya Pradesh (19.2 lakh). Karnataka (14.4 lakh), Bihar (12.1 lakh), West Bengal (12 lakh).

Read | Panagariya feels daily vaccination rate not good enough

“The number of ministers has increased, but not of vaccines,” Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said.

In the states of Assam and Tripura which recently reported a rise in fresh Covid-19 cases, a declining trend in the administration of average daily vaccine doses can be seen.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is meeting chief ministers of Assam, Nagaland, Tripura, Sikkim, Manipur, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram to review the Covid-19 situation in the north-eastern region.

On Monday, the Health Ministry said over the states, including private hospitals, had 1.54 crore balance and unutilised Covid-19 vaccine doses.

More than 38.86 crore vaccine doses have been provided to States/UTs so far, through all sources and a further 63,84,230 doses are in the pipeline.

Read | Over 1.54 cr unused vaccine doses with states: Centre

The health ministry had said a total of 12 crore vaccine doses would be available in July, which could allow an average of 38 lakh doses every day throughout the month.

States such as Maharashtra, which recorded the highest number of Covid-19 cases on Monday, raised the need for more vaccine doses.

Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope said the state needs a minimum of three crore vaccine doses per month to inoculate the entire eligible population against coronavirus at the earliest.

Gujarat, on the other hand, said it has so far received an “adequate” number of vaccine doses from the Centre to inoculate people against Covid-19 and the state still has a stock of around seven lakh doses.