KOLKATA: Bengal is leading the 12-14 age-group vaccination drive in India with over 17.9 lakh doses administered, the Union health ministry data updated till Sunday morning indicated. Bengal is followed by Bihar which has administered 15.5 lakh doses in this age-group while Rajasthan is third with 15.4 lakh doses. Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat have all administered over 14 lakh doses in this age-group.
The Bengal government rolled out the inoculation drive for children in 12-14 years age-group on March 21 even though the programme was launched across the country on March 16. The launch of the vaccination drive for kids in the state got delayed as “the administration received the standard operating procedures from the Centre late”, an official said.
The recipients are being administered Corbevax from only government vaccination centres. The second dose will be administered after 28 days of the first dose.
According to the central data, Bengal has completely vaccinated 26.2 lakh children in the age-group of 15 to 18 years. Around 33.8 lakh children in this age-group have received their first dose. This age-group is being administered Covaxin.
The pace of booster dose vaccination in Bengal is also picking up fast. According to the Centre, Bengal has already administered 19.6 lakh precaution doses. It is third in the country in the precaution dose drive.
On Sunday, Bengal reported 36 fresh Covid cases and two deaths.
The Covid positivity rate in Bengal is 0.3% and the recovery rate is 98.9%. The Covid fatality rate is around 1%.
