68.26 Lakh Healthcare and Frontline Workers Vaccinated Against COVID-19: Health Ministry

New Delhi: The number of healthcare and frontline workers vaccinated against COVID-19 reached68.26 lakh on Wednesday, the 26th day of the countrywide inoculation programme, the Union Health Ministry said. The cumulative number of beneficiaries vaccinated against the coronavirus till Wednesday6 pm through 1,42,455 sessions is 68,26,898, as per a provisional report, the ministry said.

These include 56,65,172 healthcare workers (57.4 per cent) and 11,61,726 frontline workers (13.2 per cent), it said. The nationwide inoculation drive was launched on January 16 with initial priority to healthcare workers. Frontline workers, like police, civil and defence staff and municipal employees, started receiving COVID-19 vaccine jabs from February 2.

On Wednesday, a total 2,15,133beneficiarieswere vaccinated till6 pm across 33 states and union territories and of these, 54,834 were healthcare workers, while the other1,60,299beneficiaries were frontline workers, the ministry said, adding that a final report would be completed by late in the night. It said that 7,707 sessions were held on Wednesday till 6 pm.

Thirteen states and union territories (UTs) have vaccinated more than 65 per cent of the registered healthcare workers and these include Bihar, Tripura, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Odisha,Himachal Pradesh, Lakshadweep, Kerala, Mizoram, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh,Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Rajasthan, the ministry said. Seven states and UTs have reported less than 40 per cent coverage of vaccinating healthcare workers. These are Punjab, Chandigarh, Tamil Nadu, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, and Puducherry, it said. "Ten states, which recorded the highest number of vaccinations, are Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Bihar," the ministry said. Total 30 persons have been hospitalised so far which comprises 0.0004 per cent of the total vaccinations. Of the 30 cases of hospitalization, 19 were discharged after treatment, while nine persons died and two are under treatment, it said.

In the last 24 hours, one person who is suffering from Anaphylaxis has been hospitalized at JIPMER, Puducherry and is stable, the ministry said. Total 23 deaths have been recorded till date. These comprise 0.0003 per cent of the total vaccinations. Of the 23, nine persons died in hospital while 14 deaths are recorded outside hospital, it said. No new death has been reported in the last 24 hours, the ministry said. "No case of serious/severe AEFI (adverse event following immunisation)/Death is attributable to vaccination, till date," it stated. The 68,26,898 beneficiaries vaccinated include 4,22,802 from Bihar, 3,25,079fromKerala, 4,61,478 from Karnataka, 4,09,015 from Madhya Pradesh, 5,59,152 from Maharashtra, 1,37,885 from Delhi, 6,05,494 from Gujarat, 6,73,542 from Uttar Pradesh and 4,16,730 from West Bengal, according to the provisional report.

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