As people gear up for a festive season in the month of November nationwide, the rate of those going for their covid shots seems to have decreased drastically.

As per the record, approximately 17 crore doses were administered in October which is down by more than 25 percent as compared to 24 crore doses given in the month of September. Also, the number of unutilized jabs has shown a 3 times spike from a mere 5 crore stock in September to roughly 15 crores in October.

The center has kept December 31 as the target to fully vaccinate all 94 crore adults of the country. But there is a section of people who have taken first dose and have not come forward for their second those. The number of these individuals who believe taking the first jab was enough amounts to 11 crores. Another group of people are the ones who have shown “vaccine hesitancy”. These people though eligible to take vaccine have not come forward to take even the first shot and thus it can be said that they are not willing to take the vaccine at all.

The center will launch a door-to-door vaccination campaign in underperforming districts from 2 November with the aim of raising the level of immunization. The campaign could be rolled out across the country in the coming days as the effort is to encourage people to participate and reach out to them.

Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of people who are due for their second dose. While opposition ruled states haven’t done any good either as states like Punjab, West Bengal and Jharkhand also need to buckle up to increase their vaccination drive.

As per latest updates, 106crore doses have been administered in India, amounting to only 23.7% of the total population being fully vaccinated. This data is way less than world average which stands at a 38.9% population of the world fully vaccinated with 704 crore doses given worldwide.

There was a time when we were after the government for donating vaccine to neighboring and other friendly nations. But with the falling number of cases, people have become relaxed in their approach towards Covid. Meanwhile huge gatherings and people roaming around in crowded areas without a mask has become very common. Although experts are of the view that the vaccine drive will pick up the pace once festive season is over, this attitude of complacency and delay amongst Indians has proved to be fatal time and again.