 "Five states account for over 43% of total vaccinations against Covid-19")
As India races to contain the second wave of COVID-19, five states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and West Bengal have carried out over 43 per cent of the total vaccinations in the country, according to the Health ministry data.
Of the total 7,59,79,651 vaccinations carried out till now, 3,33,10,437 were carried out in these five states.
Out of the 3,33,10,437 jabs administered in these five states - 2,91,54,577 were first doses and 4155860 were second doses, according to the data till 7 am on Sunday.
In Maharashtra, 73,54,244 vaccinations have been carried out which alone accounts for 9.68 per cent of the total vaccinations in the country.
A total of 69,23,008 vaccinations have been carried out in Gujarat which alone accounts for 9.11 per cent of the total vaccinations in the country.
In Uttar Pradesh, 66,43,096 vaccinations have been carried out which alone accounts for 8.74 per cent of the total vaccinations in the country.
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A total of 64,31,601 vaccinations have been carried out in Rajasthan which alone accounts for 8.46 per cent of the total vaccinations in the country.
In West Bengal, 59,58,488 vaccinations have been carried out which alone accounts for 7.84 per cent of the total vaccinations in the country.
Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh are also among states that are reporting high numbers of new COVID-19 cases.
Maharashtra on Saturday reported 49,447 fresh COVID-19 cases, the highest rise in a day so far, taking the tally to 29,53,523 while 277 fatalities pushed the toll to 55,656.
Uttar Pradesh on Saturday reported 14 coronavirus deaths as 3,290 fresh cases surfaced, pushing the state's infection count to 6,25,923.
Officials have said that the high number of vaccinations can be attributed to the high number of cases being reported in some of these states.
But availability of resources, high population and awareness are other reasons for these states to carry out high numbers of vaccinations, a senior official said.
Samiran Panda, director of ICMR National AIDS Research Institute, said the number of vaccinations should also be seen in terms of population of a state.
"Clearly, if states are covering priority groups then there will be vaccine-induced herd immunity in these groups. The good performing states have actually saturated and achieved 70 or 80 per cent vaccination of priority groups then they can expect to report lesser cases in coming times," he told PTI.
Panda added that the indirect benefit of increased number of vaccinations is reduced transmission of the infection.
India is racing against time to contain a second wave of the coronavirus which continues to batter the country.
The country recorded 93,249 new coronavirus infections on Sunday, the highest single-day rise since September, which took the total COVID-19 cases to 1,24,85,509, according to the health ministry data.
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