Covid-19 vaccine: City Beautiful not on Centre’s list of 100% first dose coverage

Naina Mishra

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 4

The Centre has not yet acknowledged Chandigarh’s claim of vaccination of 100 per cent target population with the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had recently released data pertaining to states with more than 85 per cent coverage of the 18-plus population with the first dose.

As per the Centre’s data, states that have attained 100 per cent coverage of eligible population with the first dose include Sikkim, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, and Himachal Pradesh. The states that have covered more than 85 per cent target population with the first dose include Tripura, Ladakh, Daman & Diu, Lakshadweep and Mizoram. Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also hailed the efforts of the Himachal Pradesh Government in achieving the 100 per cent first dose target.

Meanwhile, UT Adviser Dharam Pal said: “The Centre has not included Chandigarh among states and Union Territories that have achieved 100 per cent target for first dose. This is because the base population for the 18-plus group of Chandigarh is not correct with the Central Government. We have raised this issue again with the Centre.” Chandigarh had completed the 100 per cent target for the first dose on August 14. Till now, the Union Territory’s first dose coverage stands at 112.93 per cent, as it has vaccinated 94,333 people more than the 18-plus target population of 7,28,822.

Fact file

• The Central Government claims that Chandigarh’s target population in the 18-plus category is 15, 75,709
• The UT claims that as per the 2011 Census, population of Chandigarh has been shown as 10,55,450 and considering the decadal growth of 17.2 per cent, it will be approximately 12,36,987 in 2021 and that of persons 18 years and above at approximate 7,29,822 (59 per cent of total population)