Meghalaya’s rate of vaccination against Covid-19 is one of the worst in the country, according to figures provided by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Only 14.6 percent of the population has received at least one dose of the vaccine, the second smallest proportion among the eight North East states and 31st out of 37 states and territories.
Lakshadweep is the best performing in the list, with 62.9 percent of its small population of 68,000 having received a jab. The worst performer is Bihar, where just 9 percent (or a little over 1 crore people) have gotten the vaccine.
Within the North East, Sikkim (fourth place in the country) tops the vaccination chart, with 39 percent of its population having gotten at least one dose, followed by Tripura on 30.4 percent (eighth in the country), Mizoram 28.7 percent (11th), Arunachal Pradesh 24 percent (16th), Manipur 15.6 percent (29th) Nagaland 14.9 percent (30th), then Meghalaya and finally Assam on 11.8 percent (35th).
These figures were released by the Centre on June 17. Meghalaya’s figures are below the national Covid vaccination average of 16.2 percent.
Vaccination numbers have picked up sharply of late, though, in the state. From Monday to Friday 71,932 have been administered, including a single-day record of 17,265 on Thursday.
There could be several reasons for this – including the order by the East Khasi Hills administration that shops will not be allowed to open after June 24 unless those working there have been vaccinated. Although controversial in some quarters, many shop staff and management have taken the hint and gotten themselves vaccinated.
Principal Secretary in the Health Department, Sampath Kumar, meanwhile, also informed that vaccination rates rose after the government released data that showed that 319 out of 345 Covid-related deaths in East Khasi Hills, the most-affected district, were among the unvaccinated. He also paid tribute to the efforts of “our community Covid management committees, headmen, religious and community leaders” for helping increase vaccination coverage “drastically”.
Kumar also hoped that Covid vaccination levels would follow that of those provided to children. In this regard Meghalaya had, as recently as 2019, ranked as one of the poorest performers in full immunisation coverage for children. However, the numbers picked up last year and the state is now second in the rankings, tied with Kerala and only behind Telangana.
