Ludhiana: 26% eligible population still hesitant to take second Covid jab

Nitin Jain

Ludhiana, February 24

With the count of Covid cases again plummeting, the hesitancy of vaccination has also increased in Ludhiana district.

While almost 26 per cent of the eligible population, aged 18 and above, have not yet got their second jab, almost 36 per cent children, in the 15-18 year bracket, have been inoculated with the first shot in almost two months of their vaccination roll-out.

When it comes to the second jab for the children and the precaution dose for the elderly, only 1.4 per cent teenagers and aged have been fully vaccinated and got their third shot so far.

The official data compiled by the district administration, a copy of which is with The Tribune, revealed that 21,31,938 of the total 28,67,524 eligible persons above 18 years, constituting 74.35 per cent, have been fully inoculated with both vaccine doses while 76,654 of the identified 2.15 lakh children, aged 15 to 18 years, accounting for 35.65 per cent, have got their first jab till Thursday.

However, the takers for the first dose among 18 years and above have exceeded the target population of 28,67,524 with 31,23,481 such persons, which accounted for 108.93 per cent, getting the single dose.

The poor turnout of the second shot among teenagers and precaution dose among the elderly was evident from the fact that only 3,034 children and 38,488 aged persons, both constituting almost 1.4 per cent in their respective category, have been covered so far.

This was despite the fact that over 200 sites, including 155 Covishield and 58 Covaxin, for free vaccination of 18 years and above, besides 19 sites for teenagers, have been operational across the district from 9.30 am to 4 pm daily. Moreover, the free door-to-door drive and paid vaccination at private hospitals was also underway in the district.