COVID-19 vaccine doses administered to 98.5 lakh healthcare, frontline workers: Health Ministry

New Delhi: The cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered to healthcare and frontline workers in the country has reached nearly 98.5 lakh, the Union Health Ministry said on Thursday.

A total of 98,46,523 vaccine doses were given through 2,10,809 sessions, as per the provisional report till Thursday 6 PM. This includes 62,34,635 healthcare workers (HCWs) who have taken the first dose and 4,64,932 HCWs who have taken the second dose, along with 31,46,956 frontline workers (FLWs) who were administered the first dose.

While the countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16, vaccination of the frontline workers started on February 2.

Total 3,17,190 vaccine doses were given till 6 pm on Thursday, the 34th day of the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive, the Ministry said. Out of which, 2,21,425 beneficiaries were vaccinated for the first dose and 95,765 healthcare workers received the second dose of vaccine as per the provisional report, it said final reports would be completed for the day by late tonight.

A total of 10,159 sessions were held till 6 PM on Thursday. All states and union territories conducted the COVID vaccination drive on Thursday. A total of 11 states and UTs have vaccinated over 75 per cent of the registered healthcare workers for the first dose. These are Bihar, Tripura, Odisha, Lakshadweep, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh.

#IndiaFightsCorona:

To Summarize:

A total of 98,46,523 doses administered till 6 PM, 18 February, 2021 as per the provisional reports

No case of serious/severe AEFI/Death attributable to vaccination till date

: JS @MoHFW_INDIA #We4Vaccine #LargestVaccinationDrive pic.twitter.com/saSi4VABYP

— #IndiaFightsCorona (@COVIDNewsByMIB) February 18, 2021

On the other hand, seven states and UTs have reported less than 50 per cent coverage of the registered healthcare workers for the first dose. These are Ladakh, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Punjab, Chandigarh, Nagaland and Puducherry.

A total of 15 states have registered more than 40 per cent coverage for the first dose among frontline workers. These are Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Lakshadweep, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

A total of 10 states that recorded the highest number of vaccinations are Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Odisha, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh.

Total of 40 people has been hospitalised so far. This comprises 0.0004 per cent of the total vaccinations. Of the 40 cases of hospitalisation, 24 were discharged after treatment, while 13 persons died and three are under treatment, the Health Ministry said.

In the last 24 hours, two persons have been hospitalised. One of them was a case of convulsions, who has been hospitalised at Hijli Rural Hospital in West Bengal. He is stable now. Another person suffered from anaphylaxis and has been hospitalised at Tarakeshwar Rural Hospital in West Bengal. He is also stable now.

Total 32 deaths have been recorded till date. These comprise 0.0003 per cent of the total COVID-19 vaccinations, the Ministry said. Of the 32, a total of 13 persons died in hospital while 19 deaths are recorded outside the hospital. "No case of serious/severe AEFI/death is attributable to vaccination, till date," the Ministry stated.

In the last 24 hours, three new deaths have been reported. A 57-year-old man, who was a resident of Kozhikode, Kerala died due to myocardial infarction. Another 51-year-old woman, a resident of Kolhapur, Maharashtra died due to cerebral infarction, a known case of hypertension and diabetes.

For both of them, a post-mortem has not been done as per the wishes of the family, the Ministry said. A 34-year-old man, a resident of Raipur, Chhattisgarh died. He suffered from chest pain and was brought dead at a hospital.

"Possibly, a case of myocardial infarction," it said, adding that post-mortem has been done and reports are awaited.