Vaccination picks up pace as Omicron variant puts nation on alert

Sixty-year-old Selvi from Thiruporur near Chennai never heard about Omicron and its implications. It was her concerned family that forced her to take the second jab as she surpassed the due date way back on November 2.

“I thought I would come after a few days. Floods, too, delayed my vaccination. Now, my family is saying cases may rise,” she said, standing outside a vaccination centre at Chettinad Super Speciality Hospital in the city. Selvi is one of the vaccine hesitancy candidates that the country has been seeing.

While vaccinations in the country have been rising for the last 20 days, in the last eight days, the pace of growth has accelerated. The pick-up coincides with the announcement of the new variant of Covid-19, which was first identified in South Africa.

India had administered nearly 6 million doses a day about a month ago. However, in subsequent weeks, the daily vaccination numbers declined to less than 3 million. Since November 8, there has been a pick-up in daily vaccinations, and on December 2, the country averaged 8 million. Over the last eight days, vaccinations in the country have increased 4.7 per cent. 

It witnessed a 4.3 per cent increase between November 18-25.

Of the 36 states and Union Territories for which vaccination data is available, 20 states recorded a rise in vaccination growth during the last week.

Maharashtra, on Thursday, had administered 910,075 doses. On Wednesday, it had administered 1.2 million doses. On Tuesday, it had also crossed the million-dose mark, after nearly two months. The last time it had administered over a million doses in a day was on September 28.

Additional chief secretary, health, Maharashtra, Pradeep Vyas, admitted that scare around the new variant — Omicron — is indeed driving more people to take their shots. 

“One can say that partly, the recent scare around a new variant of concern is driving more people to vaccination centres. However, many who got their first dose in August are also coming for their second dose,” he said.

Although the second dose now comprises nearly two-thirds of the total doses administered in the country, Business Standard’s analysis shows that the first dose administration had increased to over 30 per cent in the last fortnight. 

Until a month ago, two-fifths of the total doses administered were first doses. Second dose vaccinations increased 9.1 per cent in the last eight days, whereas the first dose registered a 2.3 per cent growth.

India, till December 2, had administered the first dose to 791 million people. Nearly 60 per cent of those who received the first dose are now fully vaccinated. States are resorting to both coercive methods and incentivising initiatives to boost vaccination rates.

For instance, some local bodies in states like Tamil Nadu are offering gifts like sarees and washing machines to attract people.

On the other hand, Kerala has said that the state will not bear the cost of treatment of Covid-19 patients who have not been vaccinated. Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that those who are allergic or have any disease should produce a doctor’s certificate.

Gujarat health commissioner Jai Prakash Shivahare said that the state doesn’t plan to resort to coercive measures to improve vaccination rates. “We have decent coverage, around 70 per cent of the eligible population. Our continuous efforts through ‘Har Ghar Dastak’ has paid off. Also, whenever there is a threat like the current Omicron strain, it also has an impact on the vaccination rates,” he said.

In Tamil Nadu, where 9 million people are yet to take a single dose, the government is reaching out to those who have not taken the vaccine so far or are hesitant to take the second dose.

After the results of a 63-year-old traveller from South Africa were found different from the Delta variant, the Karnataka government had approached the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) for clarity on this. 

Kerala also saw a considerable rise in the number of vaccinations as it increased from 12,366 doses on November 28 to 186,478 doses on November 29. Already, 96.11 per cent eligible people have taken their first dose in the state and 72.33 per cent their second dose.