As per data released by the ministry of health and family welfare (MoHFW), Uttar Pradesh, where 7,52,501 beneficiaries have so far received the first dose of the vaccine, tops the chart. In Bihar, 4,48,446 beneficiaries have so far been inoculated since the launch of the exercise on January 16.

Bihar tops in the country in terms of the percentage of targeted healthcare beneficiaries getting vaccinated.
A statement issued by the MoHFW on Wednesday stated that 13 states and union territories, which have vaccinated more than 65% of the registered healthcare workers include Bihar, Tripura, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Lakshadweep, Kerala, Mizoram, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Rajasthan.

State health department special secretary Manoj Kumar said more than 82% of the targeted healthcare beneficiaries have been administered the vaccine in Bihar so far.

“From a rather slow start, the rate of vaccination has picked up gradually, thanks to increasing in the number of session sites,” Manoj said.

On Thursday, 3,90,677 healthcare workers took the first dose of the vaccine in the state. “The vaccination for healthcare workers ended on February 9 and a final mop-up exercise for the left-out beneficiaries will be done on February 13,” Manoj said.

Healthcare workers apart, the vaccination for frontline workers, including employees associated with home department, revenue, personnel, urban development and housing, district administration and Panchayati raj institutions had started on February 6.

Meanwhile, 57 fresh Covid cases were registered in the state on Thursday. With this, the state’s Covid tally has increased to 2,61,567. As per the health department, 113 people recovered from the virus in the last 24 hours, taking the state’s recovery rate to 99.13%. The state recorded just one Covid death in the last 24 hours.