Covid Vaccination: 10 states/UTs cover entire populace with 1st dose

India administers 92.6 crore vaccines till October 6 and, with a 91 percent rise in inoculation, most states have first dose given to over 60 percent people

Arup Roychoudhury

October 11, 2021 / 12:45 IST

Finance Ministry (Image: PTI)

Ten states and Union Territories have administered the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccines to their entire adult populace, while more than 60 percent of people in most states have received the first jab, the Finance Ministry said in its Monthly Economic Report for September.

"The second dose coverage remains less than 40 percent in most states but is expected to pick up significantly in the coming months," said the report released on October 11.

"The pick-up in vaccination can be seen with 12 states having inoculated more than 80 percent of the population, while 24 states have done more than 60 percent of their population," the ministry said

The ministry's June report had stated that at the current inoculation pace, India could administer over 67 crore doses before the festive season begins in September.

"Given the pace of vaccination in May and June, this target was regarded as very ambitious. Yet, India exceeded the ambitious target of 67 crore vaccine doses on September 2, 2021, well before the onset of the festive season," the latest report said.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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