Ghaziabad administers over 2.1 million doses so far, ranks second in UP

Ghaziabad on Monday achieved its target of administering 62,100 vaccine doses against Covid-19 and replaced Gautam Budh Nagar as the district with the second-highest number of doses administered in Uttar Pradesh since the vaccination drive began on January 16

Ghaziabad on Monday achieved its target of administering 62,100 vaccine doses against Covid-19 and replaced Gautam Budh Nagar as the district with the second-highest number of doses administered in Uttar Pradesh since the vaccination drive began on January 16.

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According to Co-WIN portal at 9pm, Ghaziabad on Monday administered 69,028 doses taking its total to 2,160,921, while Gautam Budh Nagar administered 25,952 taking its total to 2,151,276. Lucknow remained at the top of the list with 2,940,252 doses. Uttar Pradesh administered 3.1 million doses on the day taking its total to over 8 million.

District officials said that the numbers would continue to be updated through the night, but it was unlikely that Ghaziabad would lose its spot.

Monday was the first mega vaccination drive of the month. August had three such drives and Ghaziabad consistently surpassed its target by several thousands, even topping the state list.

“For the mega drive, the state government gave us a target of 62,100 doses and we had a stock of 80,000. We surpassed that with the help of 161 Covid vaccination centres (CVCs),” said Dr GP Mathuria, nodal officer for Covid vaccination. “Of late, our vaccination coverage has increased as our daily allocation of vaccines from the state government was increased from 16,000 to 23,000. During the mega drives which have taken place so far, we achieved targets and also did more vaccination. If we get sufficient stock of vaccine, the district has potential to administer about 50,000 doses daily even during non-mega drive days.”

During the first mega drive on August 3, the district administered 79,822 doses, while it administered 42,444 and 67,040 doses during the second and third drives on August 16 and 27, respectively.

The figures of the Cowin portal on Monday also stated that the overall coverage include 4,80,667 second doses which is about 22.24% of overall 21,60,921 vaccination doses till 8pm on Monday.

“The coverage of vaccination is increasing, and focus should also be to increase the coverage of second dose. As, it is only after both the doses, a beneficiary gets required protection from infection. Such drives should be held regularly now to increase coverage ahead of any eventuality of a third Covid wave,” said Dr Ashish Agarwal, president of Indian Medical Association (Ghaziabad chapter).

Of the overall doses, the district has so far administered 1303870 doses in 18-45 age group. Of the overall doses, about 43.6% doses were administered to women.