From June, govt expects deaths to come down, COVID-19 vaccination numbers to go up

The government expects the daily number of COVID deaths to come down and the daily vaccination numbers to go up from June.

The assessment is based on increasing supplies from the country’s two leading vaccine manufacturers and loosening of lockdown by the states.

India reported the highest ever death toll world-wide in the last 24 hours. The number of daily deaths hit a new peak of 4,529 on May 18, up from the earlier high of 4,329 a day earlier, and 4,205 deaths on May 12.

The number of daily cases had been coming down since hitting a peak on May 7 at 4.14 lakh. It reduced to 2.63 lakh daily cases on May 18, amidst the last 7-day growth rate of minus-3.1 percent.

The latest death toll is bigger than the highest number of deaths at 4,409 reported in the US this January.

“The deaths are high presently given the 15-20-day gap generally between the peak of fresh infections and the peak of deaths. Deaths occurring today are mainly of people who got infected over two weeks ago when the new daily cases were at their peak. We expect the daily number of deaths to come down by early June as the daily number of cases are now decreasing,” a senior government official told News18.

The government also expects the vaccination numbers to improve from June to about 25 lakh-plus doses daily as supplies from the Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech would increase to both Centre and the states.

Some states are also expected to loosen their lockdown measures in June, which have been hampering the vaccination drive as people are hesitant to step out for getting the jabs.

Union Minister Harsh Vardhan, while speaking to ministers of four states on May 15, had said the present level of daily vaccinations at “20-25 lakh was definitely low” and there was a need to push it up.

But only 15.1 lakh and 12.8 lakh people were vaccinated on May 17 and 18 respectively, showing a further decline in the numbers.

A part of this fall is also attributable to Cyclone Tauktae in both Gujarat and Maharashtra, which contribute as among the leading states to the daily vaccine numbers.

The high demand for vaccines in the 18-44 age group has, meanwhile, raised hopes for vaccination numbers increasing from June with over 50 million in this age group already registering for a jab.

On May 18, out of total 12.8 lakh inoculations concluded, 5.14 lakh jabs (nearly 40 percent) were given to the 18-44 age group while second dose vaccinations for the 45-plus age group accounted for only 1.83 lakh.

The interval for the second Covishield jab was doubled by the government last week.

Rajasthan has become the first state to cross the 10-lakh mark in vaccinations for the 18-44 age group, followed by Bihar at 8.7 lakh, Delhi at 7.8 lakh, UP at 6.3 lakh and Haryana at 5.5 lakh.

A senior official said these five states were able to secure supplies early by placing quick orders with the two vaccine manufacturers and some other big states would now be getting better supplies from the two manufacturers beginning June.