Bihar gets 800,000 additional doses of Covid vaccines this fortnight

Bihar plans to first vaccinate the urban population, which is more willing to take the jab, before moving to the rural areas, where vaccine hesitancy is stronger.

Centre has sent additional 800,000 doses of Covishield to Bihar over and above the promised 3.216 million doses of Covishield and Covaxin for the fortnight ending August 4 as the state aims to vaccinate 454,000 residents daily to meet its target of inoculating the adult population of 72.2 million by December 31.

Patna, for instance, hopes to administer the first vaccine dose to all urban adults by July 25. (ANI)

Bihar was given 3.428 million doses of the vaccine for the first fortnight of July.

“We received 800,000 additional vaccine doses last Friday apart from the scheduled supply of 3.216 million doses between July 16 and August 4. Our target is to vaccinate maximum people in as less time as possible so that the Centre replenishes our stock of vaccines,” said Manoj Kumar, executive director, State Health Society, Bihar.

Bihar plans to first vaccinate the urban population, which is more willing to take the jab, before moving to the rural areas, where vaccine hesitancy is stronger. The state has so far administered 20.9 million vaccine doses against its target population of 72.2 million. Of this, 17.7 million have received the first dose, and 3.153 million have got the second dose.

“The government’s focus is to first target the low-hanging fruits before moving up. We will shift our focus to the rural population, who are fast shedding their reluctance towards vaccination, once the willing urban population has been administered the first dose,” said a health official.

Patna, for instance, hopes to administer the first vaccine dose to all urban adults by July 25.

“We have achieved over 70% first-dose vaccination in urban Patna and hope to complete inoculating the remaining population by July 25, subject to [the] availability of vaccines. The thrust will then shift to rural areas,” said Patna district magistrate Chandrashekhar Singh.

“In addition to the static session sites, we are deploying one vaccination van in each of the 75 municipal wards of Patna to complete the first-dose vaccination... by July 25,” added Singh.

24% of rural Patna has received the first-dose of the vaccines, compared to over 70% in urban areas. Rural Patna has a target population of 2.912 million against 1.436 million in urban Patna.

Patna, with a target population of 43.48 lakh (approx.), has consumed 11% of the total doses administered in the state so far.