HYDERABAD: At a time when the rural spread of Covid-19 is intensifying, penetration of booster doses in rural areas remains low. According to Cowin Dashboard, Telangana has administered a total of 2,65,964 ‘precaution’ or booster doses as on Friday. However, a district-wise analysis shows that a majority of these have been administered in the three urban districts in and around GHMC.
While Hyderabad has administered 46,288 doses, Medchal administered 29,359, Rangareddy has given 26,478 booster doses. What this translates to is 1,02,125 doses were administered in three districts alone, which is about 40 per cent of all booster shots. A glance at the rate of precaution dose administration shows that the majority of districts are lagging behind.
For instance, only 10,335 doses have been administered as boosters in Warangal Urban district. The actual number of 60+ recipients eligible is nearly 2L+. Similarly in the Karimnagar district, only 7,168 precautionary doses have been administered of the 2.80 lakh eligible.
A district like Nalgonda, where a sharp rise in the number of cases is being observed currently, only 8,698 boosters have been administered of the 3.75 lakh eligible people. In contrast, a district like Kothagudem with only 1.95 lakh eligible citizens in the age bracket has inoculated 15,326 with precautionary doses.