Give Us the Jabs: Mantra of India's Young (Surprisingly in UP, Bihar) as They Top Vaccination Charts

Give us the jabs, the country’s young demanded and took with gusto. After a record 87.87 lakh vaccinations on Monday, the number of first doses given to the 18-44 population in India has now crossed the 45+ age group for the first time. In five states, including Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Delhi, the 18-44 age group has overtaken the rest in total vaccinations as well.

Over 20 crore people in the 18-44 age group have now got the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, overtaking the 45+ age group which has got 19.97 crore first doses. This excludes the health and frontline workers of all age-groups for whom vaccination was opened in January.

The young population overtaking the rest in first doses is also significant for its pace as the vaccination for the 18-44 age group had only begun on May 1. The 45-59 age category become eligible for vaccination from April 1 while the 60+ category and those with co-morbidities in 45-59 group started getting jabs from March 1.

The demand for jabs among the young, which also comprises a high number of the working population, has been rocketing ever since vaccination was opened for them from May 1.

Far more vaccinations in this age group have been reported daily since, than in other age-groups. For example, even on Monday, out of the total 87.87 lakh jabs given, nearly 58.5 lakh jabs were given to the 18-44 age-group.

In total vaccinations too, the 18-44 age-group stands at 21.6 crore vaccinations, not far from the 28.6 crore total jabs figure of the 45+ age-group. This gap could be bridged soon as the 18-44 group becomes eligible for their second jabs after an interval of three months.

Five States See Young Overtaking in Total Jabs Too

In some big states, the 18-44 age group has overtaken the 45+ age group in total vaccinations as well. Like in Uttar Pradesh, 3.02 crore total doses have been given to the 18-44 age group compared to about 2.96 crore total doses to the rest. Same is in Madhya Pradesh where 2.13 crore total doses have been given to the 18-44 age group so far, compared to 1.71 crore to the rest. In Tamil Nadu, the 18-44 age group now accounts for a total of 1.38 crore doses in comparison to 1.32 crore doses for the 45+ age group. In Bihar as well, total jabs count for 18-44 group stands at 1.59 crore while rest are at 1.48 crore.

In Delhi, total jabs given to 18-44 age-group now stands at nearly 61 lakh compared to 56 lakh for others. The story is about to repeat in Haryana too in a few days where 69.4 lakh total doses have gone to the 18-44 age-group compared to 69.8 lakh to the rest. In Uttarakhand too, the 18-44 population will overtake the rest in total jabs soon. Five states, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh have administered more than 1 Crore Cumulative Vaccine Doses in the age group 18-44 years, the data shows.

“There is an over 50 lakh population in the 18-44 age group and this (vaccination surge amongst the young) was bound to happen. The working population is eager to get fully vaccinated and this helps the country to also get the economy moving,” a senior official in the government told News18.

Read all the Latest News, Breaking News and Assembly Elections Live Updates here.