The count of senior citizens vaccinated against the Covid-19 virus in Jharkhand crossed the 50,000 mark on Tuesday, figures compiled by the National Health Mission (NHM) highlighted.

As per a report shared by the NHM on Tuesday evening, as many as 6626 senior citizens were vaccinated on the day, taking the total count of senior citizens vaccinated in the state so far to 50,413.

Among Jharkhand districts, Ranchi has vaccinated most number of senior citizens in the state, while Chatra has vaccinated the least. As per NHM data, as many as 7,214 senior citizens have been inoculated in Ranchi in the past nine days, while only 316 got the jab in Chatra. As many as 2,468 senior citizens were inoculated in East Singhbhum, 2,960 in Dhanbad and 5,442 in Bokaro, highlights data compiled by the NHM.

Despite initial hiccups in the second phase of the immunization programme, mostly caused by apprehensions related to side effects of the vaccination, the drive has picked up pace lately with more senior citizens voluntarily turning up at healthcare facilities to get inoculated, doctors spearheading the vaccination programme said.

Very few cases of Adverse Events Following Immunization (AEFI) have been reported among the senior citizens despite most of them suffering from severe comorbid conditions and other health complications, doctors said.

So far, the state has administered the first dose of the vaccine to 3,75,924 beneficiaries, and 57,007 of them were commoners. While senior citizens have turned up at vaccination centres and got the jab in healthy numbers, middle-agers with comorbid conditions have not been so keen on getting vaccinated, reveal government figures. Only 6,594 middle-agers with comorbid conditions have been administered the first dose of the vaccine in Jharkhand so far – about 13 per cent of the total number of senior citizens vaccinated in the state so far.

As per government data, the first dose of the vaccine was administered to 2588 healthcare and frontline workers on Tuesday, while the second dose was administered to 13162 healthcare and frontline workers. The state achieved only 8 per cent of its target for administering the first dose of vaccine to healthcare and frontline workers and 27 per cent of its target for the second dose. So far, Jharkhand has achieved 83 per cent of its vaccination target.

Meanwhile, as many as 62 people were found infected by the Covid-19 virus in Jharkhand on Tuesday, while 40 patients recovered, a separate bulletin by the NHM stated. Ranchi reported 31 cases and 19 recoveries on the day.

As per NHM data, the count of active cases of Covid-19 infection jumped to 494 on the day. So far, more than 1.20 lakh people have been infected by the virus in Jharkhand and more than 98 per cent of them have recovered.