Only about 14 per cent of the nearly 24 lakh Jharkhand residents who received the first dose of the vaccine against Covid-19 have come forward for the second dose as well, a trend that could be a stumbling block in the government’s aim of creating herd immunity through vaccination, health experts said on Sunday.

As per data compiled by the National Health Mission (NHM), as many as 23,94,947 state residents have been administered the first dose of the vaccine in Jharkhand, and only 3,42,686 of them have received the second jab so far.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare recently reiterated the importance of the second dose, stating that both the doses were necessary for producing enough antibodies to resist the viral infection.

In a video released by the Centre on Friday, Dr Randeep Guleria, the Director of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, explained why both doses of the vaccine are important for building an immune system strong enough to counter the Covid-19 virus.

“The first dose, known as the prime dose, prepares the human immune system to build antibodies. However, these antibodies generated with the first dose won't last for a long time and will gradually wane with time,” the AIIMS chief said in the video. “After the second dose, called the "booster dose”, the immune system receives the boost to produce a large number of antibodies that gives good cell-mediated immunity, another defence mechanism against the coronavirus infection,” he added.

However, at a time when the health machinery in Jharkhand is busy battling the worst and most lethal wave of Covid-19, the vaccination campaign, especially the second dose, has been neglected to an extent. Some beneficiaries, who received their first dose and were waiting for a call from the government for the second dose, said that they did not receive any intimation over phone or email.

“We went to a hospital and got the second dose on our own after the stipulated gap of six weeks. There was no intimation from the government via SMS or phone call,” said Lalit Choudhary, a Ranchi resident who got the second jab at a private hospital on Saturday.

State Immunization Officer Dr Ajit Prasad, who is suffering from Covid-19, was not in a position to comment as he was in isolation and undergoing treatment.

As per government data, only 29 per cent of 2,34,518 beneficiaries, above the age of 45 years and registered for the second dose, have got the jab. The achievement was above 70 per cent for healthcare workers and frontline workers. Figures indicate that mostly commoners were giving the second dose of the vaccine a miss.

State health secretary K.K. Soan and Health Director Ravi Shankar Shukla did not respond to calls from The Telegraph Online on Sunday.