75-day free drive: Just 6% in 18-59 age group covered by booster drive

Just six per cent of the 18-59 age group has been covered nation-wide in the 75-day free precaution booster drive launched by the government from July 15.

A little more than 8.4 crore doses have been administered so far (until August 5 morning) for a population of over 80 crore. Though, this is a significant increase from the 72 lakh doses administered until July 14, less than a fifth of the 18-59 age group would have received booster shots by the end of the drive in the last week of September.

Interestingly, after July 15, the numbers started to jump with states like Gujarat and West Bengal registering a 2 lakh increase. Andhra Pradesh (1.23 lakh), Madhya Pradesh (1.56 lakh) and UP (1.68 lakh)  saw a marked spike in the number of citizens getting the precautionary jab.

Also read: 4 crore eligible people yet to take COVID vaccine: Centre

According to the statistics provided by the ministry of health and family welfare, despite the high absolute number of doses per day for the 18-59 age group, Uttar Pradesh is lagging behind. Its coverage is barely 3.3 per cent. The states that have managed to give the precautionary doses to more than 10 per cent of their population happens to be Himachal Pradesh, the topper with 13.2 per cent of its population having got the dose,  Chhattisgarh has covered 12.8 per cent, Gujarat (12.2 per cent) and Delhi (10.3 per cent).

Rajasthan (3.8 per cent), Maharashtra (3.7 per cent), Tamil Nadu (3.6 per cent) join UP in showing low figures of precautionary dose coverage. While Kerala and J&K are also at the bottom of the pack registering just a little above 2 per cent. Jharkhand and Punjab are the worst performers showing that just 1.9 per cent and 1.5 per cent of the population has been given the precautionary dose until August 5. The national average is 6 per cent.