Over 8000 Jharkhand residents, including 5,538 senior citizens and 690 middle-aged persons with comorbidities, were administered the first dose of Covishield vaccine in the state on Thursday.

This takes the total count of people vaccinated so far above 3.3 lakh in the state, figures compiled by the National Health Mission (NHM) highlighted.

As per NHM data, as many as 11,178 senior citizens, 2987 middle-aged commoners with comorbid conditions and 3,22,490 healthcare and frontline workers have been administered the first dose of the vaccine in the state since the launch of the immunization programme on January 16.

Jharkhand on Thursday achieved only 27 per cent of its target for administering the first dose of the vaccine, while only 20 per cent of those registered for the second dose were inoculated. However, the state has achieved 84 per cent of its vaccination target since the launch of the vaccination drive.

On Thursday, the number of senior citizens vaccinated was twice the number of healthcare workers and frontline workers who got the jab. Only 2582 healthcare workers and frontline workers, only 11 per cent of the over 24,000 registered, were inoculated. On the other hand, as many as 5538 senior citizens and 690 middle-agers with Comorbid conditions were inoculated.

As many as 804 senior citizens, 128 middle-agers and 379 healthcare and frontline workers were inoculated in Ranchi on Thursday. As many as 675 senior citizens were inoculated in Bokaro, 351 in Dhanbad and only 43 in East Singhbhum were administered the first dose of Covishield.

The second phase of vaccination, for senior citizens and people above the age of 45 years who suffered from Comorbid conditions, was launched on March 1. The vaccination drive was also run at private healthcare centers.

Meanwhile, Ranchi reported 31 of the 61 fresh cases of Covid-19 infection in Jharkhand on Thursday, but also accounted for 32 of the 47 recoveries, a separate bulletin released by the NHM stated. The number of active cases in the state jumped to 486 on the day as fresh cases outnumbered Covid recoveries.

Ranchi also reported a Covid-19 casualty on the day, taking the Covid toll in the district to 247 and that in Jharkhand to 1091, the NHM bulletin stated. East Singhbhum reported 16 cases against nine recoveries and the number of patients there reached 65.

As per government data, as many as 1,20,129 people have been infected by the mysterious virus in Jharkhand so far and more than 98 per cent of them have recovered. The growth rate of infection in Jharkhand was 0.03 per cent against the national average of 0.10 per cent, while the doubling rate in the state was 2188 days.