HYDERABAD: After six months of inoculation drive, Hyderabad is the most vaccinated district in Telangana with 28% of its population administered at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine. According to an analysis done by Bengaluru-based data analyst Sunil Hosamane, using the Harvard Dataverse 2020 population estimates and CoWIN Dashboard vaccination data, at least eight districts in the State have more than 20% population administered with one dose.
Among these eight districts, Hyderabad leads with 28% of its population vaccinated, following Bhupalpally (27%), Medchal (25%), Warangal Urban (23%), Karimnagar (22%), Rangareddy (20%), Sircialla (20%) and Siddipet (21%). According to data estimates on population by Harvard Dataverse, these districts have population ranging from 44 lakhs in Hyderabad, which is the highest, to Sircilla which has just 5.4 lakh population.
However, Vikarabad with an estimated population of 11.93 lakhs is severely lagging behind in terms of net population vaccinated with just 6% of population administered one dose. Adilabad and Asifabad with 7.9 lakhs and 6.5 lakhs population are the other lowest vaccinated districts. In fact, Khammam and Nalgonda, the districts which are currently seeing a surge in cases despite lockdown being in force, have abysmal vaccination rates.
Nalgonda with 17.9 Lakh estimated population has only 8% of population with one dose of vaccine and Khammam with estimated 14.6 lakh population has only 10% citizens vaccinated. “There may be several factors why vaccination is slower in some districts, including vaccine hesitancy, literacy, access to vaccines and political will,” says Sunil. As per his analysis, amongst the five southern states Telangana is the fourth most vaccinated, behind Tamil Nadu.
Kerala followed by Karnataka lead the count with the most number of people vaccinated. Meanwhile, epidemiology expert and PHFI Director Dr GVS Murthy notes that unless 60 to 70% of the population which is eligible is not vaccinated, the cases of Covid-19 will not fall and the focus must be to vaccinate more and more numbers, subject to availability.