NEW DELHI: Over 86 lakh Covid-19 vaccinations on June 21 was a special achievement by the government. However, a close look at data shows that many states had very low numbers before the record breaking day. Monday witnessed a record 86.16 lakh doses injected in the country. Madhya Pradesh topped with 17.14 lakh. However, Tuesday’s vaccination number in the state was below 5,000 until the evening. It suggests the state had exhausted the quota for upcoming days to create Monday’s record.
Data from MP over the last few days hint at a bid to accumulate doses. The state recorded just 692 vaccinations on June 20, a day before the high. The last peak the state had recorded was on June 16 with 3.38 lakh. This saw a sudden slump on June 17 with 1.24 lakh doses and reduced further to 14,862 and 22,006 on June 18 and 19.
Experts hinted at a few states accumulating doses for the sake of June 21. Economist Vivek Kaul wrote on Twitter: “Let’s take Madhya Pradesh, which gave the highest 16.92 lakh doses yesterday. It has all of 692 doses on Sunday. 22,006 on Saturday. 14,862 on Friday. 1,24,226 on Thursday. What does that tell you? They were saving doses for a big bang June 21.”
Haryana witnessed a similar pattern in the last few days. The state recorded 5.15 lakh vaccinations on Monday. However, June 20 had seen a low of 37,537. Haryana also recorded a gradual slump last week as numbers fell from 1.23 lakh on June 17 to 88,818 on June 18 and 72,153 on June 19.
Karnataka, the state recording the second-highest number of 11.37 lakh on Monday, saw 68,172 doses on Sunday. Even as Sundays witness lower vaccinations, data disclosed that this was the lowest in the state in the last three weeks.
UP recorded 7.46 lakh vaccinations on Monday, after 8,800 on Sunday. Uttarakhand witnessed a similar trend with a record 1.19 lakh doses on Monday. On June 20, this figure was 13,971, lowest in the last four weeks. Assam also showed this trend as the state registered a sharp drop on June 20 with 33,654 doses, before injecting 3,60,707 on Monday.
Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and a few others didn’t show a sudden fall or rise in the last few days. Rajasthan recorded 3.48 lakh on June 20 and 4.46 lakh on June 21. Tamil Nadu saw 1.51 lakh jabs on June 20 and 3.66 lakh on June 21.