New Delhi: Amid the ongoing second wave of Coronavirus in the country and fear of a possible third somewhere between August-September, the government has not shifted its gear to vaccinating maximum citizens in order to minimise the impact of Coronavirus.
Several claims have been made by stalwart leaders of the Modi government to vaccinate the entire adult population of the country by the end of 2021. However, the target appears to be far-fetched as pace of vaccination in the country has dipped significantly in the recent past.
According to reports, Centre has administered 39 crore vaccination doses and experts believe that country is falling considerably behind in inoculating 60 per cent of its population, with both doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, to achieve herd immunity.
To meet its year-end target, India must vaccinate close to 9 million people every day, however, the average per day vaccination rate was 3.9 million over the past seven days.
Health Ministry data also points out that out of the 11 crore citizens vaccinated in the 18-44 age group, only 38 lakh have received their second dose.
To further understand pain-points of vaccination drive, LocalCircles conducted a survey where 65 per cent of citizens said they or someone in their close social network could not find a vaccination dose when they went for vaccination in the last 30 days.
When asked did you and/or anyone in the social network (extended family, friends, colleagues, neighbours, etc.) went to get vaccinated and the center was out of vaccine stock, 20 per cent said it happened with 4 or more individuals in their social network.
26 per cent said “happened with 2-3 individuals in my social network” and 19 per cent said “happened with 1 individual in my social network.” Only 21 per cent said it “did not happen with anyone” while 14 per cent couldn’t say.
To summarise, 65 per cent of citizens who participated in the survey had someone in their social network were not able to find vaccines when they went for inoculation in last one month. While the July number shows minor improvement from end of May, 65 per cent citizens knowing someone who could not find a vaccine in the last 30 days is still quite concerning.
Meanwhile, Health Ministry has refuted the claims being made by several states about vaccine shortage and even said that pointless statements are being made to create panic.
Health Minister informed that 11.46 crore vaccine doses were made available to the states and Union territories in June and added this availability has been increased to 13.50 crore this month.
When LocalCircles had conducted this same survey at the end of May, 70 per cent of citizens had indicated that they or someone in their social network could not find a vaccine dose when they went for vaccination. The number stood at 18 per cent in early April, but then dramatically rose to 51 per cent by the end of April as with rising COVID cases, people rushed to get vaccinated.