Karnataka among 17 states that covered 80% with single dose of Covid-19 vaccine

When it comes to full vaccination with two doses of the vaccine, only nine states have attained the 40% mark and the only southern representative in the group is Goa

Three out of six southern states including Karnataka have inoculated more than 80 per cent of their adult population with the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, while such a coverage for Goa stands at 78 per cent, according to the official vaccination data.

As many as 17 states and Union Territories including large populous states like Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Telangana, Kerala and Haryana have reached the 80 per cent mark with the first dose while four others – Rajasthan (78 per cent), Assam (79 per cent), Goa (78 per cent) and Delhi (75 per cent) - are close to the milestone.

But when it comes to full vaccination with two doses of the vaccine, only nine states have attained the 40 per cent mark and the only southern representative in the group is Goa.

“Fully vaccinated individuals are likely to be pivotal in breaking the chains of transmission. It is therefore critical to rapidly scale up vaccination efforts to ensure that all the vulnerable populations are protected,” Oommen John, a senior public health researcher at the George Institute for Global Health, Delhi, told DH.

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Karnataka inoculated more than 82 per cent of its adult population with the first dose (as on Sept 28) while the corresponding figures for Kerala and Telangana are 85 per cent and 83 per cent respectively. In comparison, Tamil Nadu gave the first shot to 64 per cent of its adults whereas Andhra Pradesh could manage only 48 per cent.

Similarly with fully vaccinated adults Karnataka (35 per cent), Kerala (37 per cent) and Telangana (31 per cent) are ahead of Andhra Pradesh (23 per cent) and Tamil Nadu (19 per cent). But none are among the nine states and UTs that covered at least 40 per cent of its adult population with two shots.

For the country, more than 68 per cent received the first dose while a quarter of the 94.47 crore adult population is fully vaccinated. More than 88 crore doses have been given so far.

“A single dose of Covid-19 vaccine gives 30-40 per cent protection against Delta infection, while more than 60 per cent protection comes with two doses. Since (post-vaccination) infections were all mild as shown in one of our studies, there is still a very high protection against severe disease,” said Anurag Agarwal, director, Institute for Genomics and Integrative Biology, Delhi.

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Besides Goa, other eight states with 40 per cent plus coverage in the second dose are hilly and north eastern states and union territories.

The worst second dose records are of Bihar (15 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (13 per cent) and Jharkhand (15 per cent) – states that may witness crowd surge during Dasara-Diwali-Chhath festivities.

“Vaccine hesitancy is a serious issue in several states. Coordinated measures to improve awareness are needed in areas where vaccine uptake is lower. Mega vaccination camps such as Sunday campaigns, street to street and door to door campaigns are practical and successful strategies that could be considered,” said Abdul Ghafur, senior consultant, infectious diseases, Apollo Hospitals.

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