The number of people taking the vaccine fell by about 200 on the second day of the immunisation exercise on Monday, figures from the state chapter of National Health Mission indicated.

Health department officials, however, did not sound concerned about the marginal fall in turnout stating the numbers would improve gradually with the passage of time and a sustained status quo of no adverse events following immunisation (AEFI).

As per the figures released at 8 pm on Monday, close to 3,000 took Covishield shots against a target of 4800 across 48 vaccination centres. On the inaugural day of the vaccination drive on Saturday, 3,200 people took the jabs.

No immunisation exercise was carried out on Sunday.

State NHM director Ravi Shankar Shukla said the intention was to increase the vaccine administration rate to about 90 per cent. But he agreed that would happen gradually.

“We witnessed a marginal fall in turnout compared to Day One. Against 3,200 on the first day, only close to 3000 came for vaccination. There could be many reasons as people may not still be very confident about taking it, preferring to wait and watch for some more time. We will step up counselling but zero AEFI cases will be the key for a better turnout,” he said.

Shukla said they would conduct a review of the situation soon and then plan corrective steps.

Like on the first day, there were no reports of adverse events on Monday in Jharkhand. In Uttar Pradesh’s Moradabad, a 46-year-old health worker died a day after receiving the vaccine on Monday, PTI reported but clarified that it wasn’t vaccine-related.

The Jharkhand government is administering Covishield doses to over 1.25 lakh identified beneficiaries in the first phase. Most of these comprise health and cleanliness workers. Across the state, as many as 99.89 lakh people have been selected under different priority categories for the administration of the vaccine.

From now, the vaccination drive will be held on four days a week, namely, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.