As many as 7,607 of 13,502 beneficiaries registered for vaccination against the Covid-19 virus were inoculated in Jharkhand on Saturday, helping the state achieve 57 per cent of its vaccination target, figures compiled by the National Health Mission (NHM) highlighted.

Palamu has achieved 76 per cent of its vaccination so far by inoculating at least 3120 of 4193 registered beneficiaries in the district — the highest among 24 districts in Jharkhand. Ranchi, on the other hand, achieved 55 per cent of its vaccination target as 3631 of 6426 people registered for vaccination here were administered Covishield shots.

As many as 40,721 Jharkhand residents have been administered the first doze of the vaccine since January 16, revealed figures released by the NHM on Saturday night.

At least 643 people were administered the vaccine shots in Ranchi on Saturday, while no inoculation was done in Lohardaga, the NHM stated in a bulletin. Bokaro achieved 82 per cent of its target on Saturday by inoculating 860 of 1,049 beneficiaries registered for vaccination. Ranchi achieved 56 per cent of its target on the day.

As many as 16 beneficiaries complained of Adverse Effects Following Immunization (AEFI) on the day, taking the total count of AEFI cases in the state to 224. However, Ranchi, which has reported almost 60 per cent of AEFI cases did not report any fresh case of adverse effects post vaccination on Saturday.

At least 13 AEFI cases were reported in Koderma, one in Jamtara and two in Godda on Saturday. However, no severe cases of AEFI have been reported in the state so far, say doctors.

Meanwhile, the number of Covid patients dropped below 600 in Jharkhand on Saturday as recoveries outnumbered fresh cases. While 100 patients recovered from the infection on the day, only 49 fresh cases surfaced, a separate bulletin from NHM stated. Ranchi reported 31 of the 49 fresh cases, but also accounted for at least 61 of the 100 recoveries. The number of active cases dropped to 303 in Ranchi and 55 in East Singhbhum after Saturday’s findings. As per NHM data, Ranchi was the only district with more than 100 active Covid cases in Jharkhand on Saturday.

While the cases dropped, another patient from Ranchi died during treatment on the day, taking the Covid-19 toll in Jharkhand to 1071 and that in Ranchi to 235. The covid mortality rate in the state was 0.90 per cent against the national average of 1.40 per cent.