Rain hits Covid vaccination drive

The state had achieved its highest single-day vaccinations on August 31, having topped the national chart by administering 27,57,931 doses to beneficiaries.

Rain played spoilsport as the number of Covid-19 vaccinations in Bihar dropped from 17.30 lakh on Monday to 6,99,444 till 7pm on Tuesday, the second day of the mega vaccination drive in the state this month, said officials involved in the programme.

Heavy rain lashed Digha in Patna on Tuesday. (Santosh Kumar/HT Photo)

The state had achieved its highest single-day vaccinations on August 31, having topped the national chart by administering 27,57,931 doses to beneficiaries.

Vaccine hesitancy in rural Bihar seems to have turned now into vaccine eagerness, as more and more people queued up for taking the shots, said officials quoted above. Rural Bihar accounted for 15,85,006 doses out of the total 17,30,998 administered on Monday, the first day of the mega vaccination drive this month.

Rural contribution was a whopping 25,30,676 as against 2,27,255 in urban areas on August 31, when the state logged the highest single-day vaccinations since the pan-India launch of the Covid-19 vaccination programme on January 16.

The state health authorities were now encouraging beneficiaries to take their second dose. The department had come up with jingles to promote second dose vaccination, saying the vaccination would become ineffective if the second jab was not taken within the scheduled time period between the two doses.

The state had completed 34,809,088 first dose vaccinations while the number of people who had taken both the shots was 7,222,141 out of the total 42,031,229 doses administered so far.

As many as 23,212,243 doses were administered to people in the 18-44 years age category; 10,557,753 doses to those in the 45-60 years age group, while senior citizens, above 60 years of age, accounted for 8,261,233 jabs.