Vaccination number dips as third wave subsides in city

Tribune News Service

Naina Mishra

Chandigarh, February 19

With the decline in Covid cases in the city, vaccine complacency has also set in among people as the pace of vaccination has again slowed down. The inclination to take precautionary jab doses and inoculating those in the age group of 15-17 years appear to have declined with the waning third wave.

The pace of vaccination was on the rise and the city had even inoculated around 1 lakh beneficiaries in a week when the third wave was at its peak in the city.

The UT is still struggling to achieve 100 per cent vaccination for teenagers, while many states have already achieved the target. Even as the vaccination for this age group started on January 10, around 19 per cent are still awaiting the first dose of the vaccine.

Not only this, there is poor response to booster dose among the eligible young population (healthcare workers and frontline workers). Only 13 per cent of the healthcare workers and 23 per cent of the frontline workers have taken the booster shot till now.

It is worth mentioning that around 2 lakh beneficiaries in the city are yet to take the second dose. Around 10,80,075 beneficiaries above 18 years have taken their first dose, which is 128 per cent of the target population of 8,43,000.

However, 8,63,375 beneficiaries have taken the second dose (102 per cent of the target population) in the city.

The daily vaccination numbers have also fallen to less than 1,000. In the last seven days, over 700 people were being vaccinated daily. This has also resulted in declining weekly vaccination rate. The week ending January 18 saw only 15,981 doses having been administered. This at a time when already a large number of beneficiaries are waiting to be inoculated for either first or second dose.

25 cases in Chandigarh

Chandigarh: The city reported 25 fresh cases of Covid on Saturday, taking the overall count to 91,545. The positivity rate stood at 1.15 per cent. As many as 87 patients recovered from the disease while no new fatality was reported in the past 24 hours. — TNS

One dies in Panchkula

Panchkula: The district on Saturday reported 14 fresh cases of Covid and one death. A 59-year-old woman from Sector 19, who was suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and chronic kidney disease, died. She was fully vaccinated. — TNS

No death, 26 test positive in Mohali

Mohali: The district reported 26 cases of Covid during the past 24 hours, taking the overall tally to 95,391. While there was no fresh fatality, 77 more patients have got the better of the disease. Meanwhile, a total of 18,56,875 beneficiaries in the district have been given anti-Covid shots till date. As many as 11,06,445 people have been given the first dose whereas 7,31,338 beneficiaries have taken the second dose. Apart from this, 19,092 beneficiaries have been given the booster dose. A total of 48,987 persons aged from 15 and 17 have been administered the vaccine and 8,714 of them have received the second dose. Civil Surgeon Adarshpal Kaur said health workers were going door to door in cities and villages to administer the anti-Covid vaccine to beneficiaries. — TNS

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