The total number of people vaccinated against the new coronavirus, so far, is around 2.24 lakh (Archive)
New Delhi:
More than 17,000 people were vaccinated at 553 sites in six states on Day 2 of India’s coronavirus vaccination campaign, the Health Ministry said Sunday night, adding that the number who had received at least one injection was around 2.24 lakh. The six states that currently carried out the vaccinations were Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Manipur, and Tamil Nadu.
On Saturday (Day 1) 1.91 lakh was vaccinated at 3,006 sites across India after Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the national campaign. The Health Ministry said the drop in the number of states was aimed at avoiding clashes with vaccination schedules for other diseases.
“Union states / territories were recommended to schedule COVID vaccination sessions four days a week to minimize disruption to routine health services. Today, Sunday, only six states conducted vaccination sessions,” said Dr. Manohar Agnani, Deputy Secretary of the Ministry of Health.
The government said most states had planned to vaccinate people for four days a week, but Goa and Uttar Pradesh opted for two, Mizoram for five and Andhra Pradesh for six.
On Saturday three lakhs of people were to be vaccinated, but in reality less than two lakhs received the vaccine. The government has not spoken about this gap, but states have cited that the vaccine is voluntary as a possible reason for the difference.
Concerns have been raised about the safety and efficacy of one of the vaccines used: Covaxin from Bharat Biotech. The drug was approved for emergency use even though phase III trials are still pending. The government said it was authorized based on data from Phase I and II tests.
Yesterday the Prime Minister urged people not to believe rumors about the efficacy of the vaccine.
Today, the Ministry of Health also said that there are protocols to respond to AEFI (adverse events after vaccination). The ministry said that most of these events were generally mild in nature: some swelling at the injection site, mild nausea, or brief allergic reactions to the jab.
Only a few AEFIs required hospitalization and these were classified as “serious,” the ministry explained.
The ministry said only 447 AEFI had been registered so far, of which only three had to be hospitalized. Two have been discharged (from AIIMS and Delhi Railway Hospital), while the third is under observation at AIIMS in Rishikesh.
Delhi Health Minister Satyender Jain previously said 52 AEFIs had been registered in the national capital on Saturday after the vaccine was launched.
Two vaccines have been approved for emergency use in India: Covishield (developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, and manufactured by the Serum Institute in Pune) and Covaxin, self-produced and produced.
In the first phase, about one crore of health workers and two crore of frontline workers, such as the police, community care workers and employees of the sanitation department, will receive the injections.
They will be followed by around 27 million people, among whom are those over 50 years of age and those under the age of 50 with serious diseases and associated comorbidities.
.
