Since India’s record 92 lakh vaccinations on June 21, the daily number of doses being administered haven’t come close to the 90-lakh mark. In fact, since June 21, India has recorded over 50 lakh vaccinations per day only on seven days — the highest being on June 23 with 68 lakh doses being administered. On July 4, India recorded the lowest number of vaccinations (since June 21) with only 15.65 lakh doses administered, while June 27 saw 18 lakh doses administered, according to data from Co-Win.
Between July 1 and July 7, the average number of doses administered per day was 41.46 lakh in India. This is far lower than the target of 1 crore vaccinations per day that Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) chief Dr Balram Bhargava had fixed for mid-July. It is unlikely that India’s pace of vaccination will increase in the coming weeks with the Union government projected to allocate 12 crore doses to states and Union territories for July, which amounts to less than 40 lakh doses on average for the month. Experts say India needs to administer at least 90 lakh doses every day to meet the Union government’s target of vaccinating India’s adult population by the end of December.
Given the supply constraints, southern states have seen their pace of vaccination fall in recent days.
Andhra Pradesh hit its record high of 13.9 lakh doses being administered on June 20. However, it’s daily vaccination has plummeted since then. Since June 20, the state administered over 2 lakh doses daily only on seven days, with 3.4 lakh vaccinations given on July 2. Between July 1 and July 7, Andhra averaged 1.37 lakh vaccinations per day. On July 4, the state administered a mere 16,717 doses. Guntur and Vijawada administered relatively more doses than other districts in the state.
Compared to its southern counterparts, Karnataka appears to have received more doses than other states. While the BJP-ruled state administered 11.65 lakh doses on June 21 — the highest till date — Karnataka has managed to administer over 2 lakh doses per day on 13 days since then. Between July 1 and July 7, Karnataka administered an average of 2.88 lakh doses per day, with the highest number of daily doses given on July 3 at 4.87 lakh.
Most districts have received between 4,000 to 22,000 doses on a daily basis, with districts like Gadag administering less vaccinations. From July 3 to July 7, the state seems to have focused on Mysuru district. However, the highest number of doses are being given in BBMP limits, with Bengaluru clocking more than a lakh doses on four days since June 21. The BBMP has steadily given more than 50,000 doses per day, dipping below the 50k mark only on two days.
Kerala administered 2.63 lakh doses on June 21 and was able to give more than 2 lakh doses daily on seven days till July 7. Between July 1 and July 7, the state administered on average 1.12 lakh doses daily, with the lowest vaccinations recorded on July 7 at 58,100 doses.
Districts like Palakkad, Malappuram, Ernakulam, Alappuzha and Thrissur were able to administer more doses in the last three days, but the numbers dipped in places like Kasaragod and Kollam. Only 700 doses were given in Kollam on July 7.
Tamil Nadu administered over 4.60 lakh doses on June 21 — the highest in a single day. Since then, the state has managed to administer over 2 lakh doses daily for 10 days. Between July 1 and July 7, Tamil Nadu has on average administered 2.04 lakh vaccinations per day, with the highest doses given on July 3, with 4.55 lakh doses. However from July 4, the numbers have drastically reduced. While on July 5 the state gave 1.65 lakh doses, it fell to around 62,000 on July 7.
Compared to Bengaluru, Chennai’s vaccination pace has been less. While in the BBMP zone, more than 1 lakh doses were administered on a daily basis for almost four days after June 21, Chennai has clocked just above 50,000 doses only on two days. From July 4, the numbers have dipped a lot and have stayed at less than 20,000 doses per day with just 11,222 doses given on July 7.
The vaccine shortage is clearly visible in districts like Coimbatore, Madurai, Tiruchirapalli etc not able to give more than 10,000 doses between July 4 and July 7. In fact Tiruchirapalli has been able to give a total of 7,374 doses in these four days.
While Telangana recorded 1.53 lakh doses on June 21, the state’s highest number of single-day vaccinations were given on June 26, with 2.42 lakh doses. Between July 1 and July 7, Telangana was able to administer on average over 1 lakh doses daily — the lowest among all the southern states. Only 16,326 doses were given on July 4, while the number was a slightly higher 23,000 on July 7. Hyderabad’s vaccination pace is slow compared to Bengaluru and Chennai, with the city administering 57,801 doses on June 26 — the highest so far. However, the vaccination has been far from steady, falling to 5,189 on July 4. On July 7, Hyderabad managed to administer only 10,208 vaccine doses.