Statsguru: Six charts show Covid-19 concerns rising again in India

Even as cases in the country rise, the pace of vaccination is falling

Although nearly 90 per cent of the population aged 18 years and above has been fully vaccinated — the administration of the first dose is even higher, at 97 per cent — and over half the children aged 12 years and above have received the first Covid vaccine dose, cases in India are rising again (chart 1).

On Sunday, data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare showed that the country reported 8,582 infections. The last time infections had crossed the 7,000 mark was on March 2 (chart 2).

Even as cases in the country are rising, the pace of vaccination is falling. The average daily vaccination in the past five days has been 1.6 million; a month ago, India administered nearly 2 million Covid-19 vaccine doses daily. In February, the average daily dose administration was higher than 4.5 million (chart 3).

Precautionary dose administration has risen in the past few days, but it is still lower as a share of the eligible population. Only a fifth of the population eligible for the precautionary (booster) dose has been vaccinated. As time progresses, the falling ratio of precautionary doses as a proportion of the eligible population indicates hesitancy (chart 4).

 However, some states/UTs have performed better. Ladakh had until June 10 vaccinated 56 per cent of the eligible population — people due to receive the precautionary dose. Andhra Pradesh had vaccinated 37.1 per cent, while Delhi had vaccinated 28.1 per cent (chart 5).

As a proportion of the overall population, India has administered a booster dose to only 2.7 per cent of people. In contrast, Singapore has administered booster doses to 76 per cent of its population, the United States has covered 36 per cent of its people. The global average is 25.8 per cent (chart 6).
StatsGuru is a weekly feature. Every Monday, Business Standard guides you through the numbers you need to know to make sense of the headlines