As India achieves the feat of administering more than 130 crore vaccine doses to its eligible adult population, most of the northeast districts are still lagging in inoculating even 50% of their people with the first dose of Covid vaccine.
Since the beginning of Covid vaccination drive in January, more than 85% of Indians have been partially vaccinated.
According to the health ministry data up to November 30, out of the 29 districts, who have poor vaccination coverage, 26 are from northeast. Arunachal Pradesh’s Kra Daadi (18.8%) and Manipur’s Kangpokpi (18.3%) have the lowest vaccination coverage in terms of first dose.
Arunachal Pradesh’s East Kameng (43.4%), Lower Subansiri (42.5%), Kamle (38.9%), Upper Subansiri (32.6%), and Kurung Kumey (28.9%) are the other districts on the list.
At least eight districts in Manipur and six in Arunachal Pradesh have vaccination coverage of less than 45%.
The other districts from Manipur are: Tengnoupal (44.7%), Noney (37.9%), Tamenglong (37.7%), Pherzawl (32.6%), Senapati (31.0%), Kamjong (30.8%) and Ukhrul (22.4%).
Eight districts in Nagaland — Longleng (42.1%), Zunheboto (42.0%), Wokha (39.3%), Mon (34.1%), Peren (28%), Phek (24.1%), Tuensang (22.2%) and Kiphire (22.0%) – and three from Meghalaya have less than 50% vaccine coverage, the data shows.
Meghalaya’s South Garo Hills (49.1%), East Garo Hills (46.7%) and West Khasi Hills (40.8%) are also included in the list. Assam’s South Salmara Mankachar district has 47.9% vaccine coverage.
Other districts such as Haryana’s Nuh (38.2%), Tamil Nadu’s Tiruvallur (45.9%) and Jharkhand’s Pakur (48.8%) are also behind the national vaccination coverage.
According to the health ministry, more than 50% of the eligible population are now fully vaccinated in India. Himachal Pradesh has 100% of its adult population fully vaccinated against Covid-19.
The data also shows that at least 12.5 crore people are due for the second dose after completing the stipulated dosage interval. More than 1.24 lakh people in Arunachal Pradesh, 3.50 lakh in Manipur and 2.31 lakh in Meghalaya are due for the second dose. Further, 1.11 lakh in Nagaland are also due for the final dose.
Among the states with the highest number of people due for the second dose are: Uttar Pradesh (2.11 crore), Rajasthan (1.23 crore), Maharashtra (1 crore) and Bihar (93.60 lakh).
Last month, health minister Mansukh Mandaviya urged the northeastern states of Manipur, Meghalaya, and Nagaland to launch an aggressive campaign to increase the pace of vaccination drive, weeks after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a review meeting with district magistrates of over 40 districts having low Covid-19 vaccination coverage.
In its 327 days of vaccination drive, India’s cumulative vaccine doses crossed 130 crore on December 8, with over 72 lakh vaccine doses given on the same day, according to the ministry data till 7 pm. Of the 130 crore, more than 80.71 crore were the first doses and over 49.58 crore were the second doses.
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