More than 77 per cent of those vaccinated against the Covid-19 virus in Jharkhand on Saturday were either senior citizens or people above the age of 45 years with comorbid conditions, highlighted the data compiled by the National Health Mission (NHM).

As per NHM’s statistic, of the 11,845 people administered the first dose of the vaccine in the state on Saturday at least 7668 were senior citizens and 1459 were middle-aged individuals with comorbid conditions. Only 2,718 healthcare workers and frontline workers were inoculated, thereby forming only 9 per cent of the 31,683 healthcare workers and frontline workers registered for the vaccination on Saturday.

In Ranchi, as many as 1200 senior citizens and 310 middle-aged individuals with comorbid conditions were inoculated, while 1382 elderly and 72 middle-aged people with comorbid conditions were administered the vaccine in Bokaro. As many as 1066 senior citizens were inoculated in Bokaro on the day. However, East Singhbhum’s poor run with vaccination continued on Saturday with only 548 senior citizens being inoculated.

Meanwhile, the second dose of the vaccine was administered to 7,595 of 38,430 registered beneficiaries on the day, stated the NHM report. As per data furnished in the report, at least 900 people were administered the second jab Ranchi on the day, while 1047 people were vaccinated in Dhanbad and 653 in East Singhbhum.

As per government data, as many as 3,50,159 people have been administered the first dose of Covishield vaccine in Jharkhand since the launch of the immunisation programme on January 16. At least 32,914 senior citizens and 4054 middle-agers with comorbid conditions have been inoculated in the state since the launch of the second phase of vaccination on March 1. So far, the state has achieved 83 per cent of its target for administering the first dose of the vaccine to healthcare and frontline workers.

Meanwhile, Covid recoveries outnumbered fresh cases of infection in Jharkhand on the day, causing a dip in the number of active cases. As per a bulletin released by NHM on Saturday night, the state reported 44 cases against 64 recoveries and the number of active cases dropped to 461 by the end of the day. Ranchi accounted for 28 fresh cases and 41 recoveries, which brought the count of active cases here down to 266.

As many as 120217 people have been infected by the mysterious virus in Jharkhand so far and more than 98 per cent of them have recovered. The state has so far reported 1091 Covid casualties. However, no casualties were reported on Saturday.