Large Cities way ahead on Vaccination compared to the rest of the State
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
June 8, 2021
As observed in our earlier story, the vaccination coverage in urban areas of the country was more than in rural areas. Further analysis of the data related to 53 large cities substantiates this trend. Large cities & Metros are way ahead on the vaccination coverage compared to the rest of the state.
As part of our vaccine data analysis in an earlier story, it was observed that the urban-majority districts have higher rates of vaccination compared to the rural-majority districts. Even among the rural-majority districts, those districts with a city or a major town in their jurisdiction, tend to have a higher vaccination coverage compared to the other rural-majority districts.
In this story, we delve further into the vaccination coverage across the major urban centres in the country compared to their population share.
Methodology:
Vaccination coverage in these 53 cities is higher than that of the overall vaccination coverage in their states
The 53 cities considered are spread across 19 states in the country. As per the latest Co-WIN information available as of the morning of 07 June 2021, the vaccination coverage is 16.49 crores across these 19 states. This constitutes around 13% of the total population of these states.
A total of 5.49 crore persons are vaccinated across the 53 cities that are being analysed. This constitutes around 19% of the population within these districts that the 53 cities are a part of.  This confirms the significantly higher vaccination coverage (a difference of about 6%) in these urban centres compared to the rest of the districts in these states. If the districts comprising the cities are excluded, the vaccination coverage in these 19 states falls to 11.6% of the population, which is less than the national average.
These cities are home to 33% of vaccinated population while they have 23% of the total population
The total projected population of the districts with these 53 cities is 28.97 crores whereas the total population of the 19 states that these districts are part of is around 123.7 crores. In other words, the districts with these cities constitute about 23% of the total population of these 19 states.
As highlighted earlier, the total vaccination coverage in these states is 16.49 crores, of these nearly 33.3% of those vaccinated i.e., around 5.49 crores belong to the districts with these 53 cities. In other words, the districts with these 53 cities are home to 1/3rd of the total vaccinated population while their share in the total population is only around 23%. The rest of the districts in these states account for 77% of the total population but are home to only 67% of the total vaccinated population in these states.
Tamil Nadu, M.P & Telangana among the states with larger variation between cities & rest of the State
With the exception of Kerala and Jammu & Kashmir, the rest of the 17 states with these cities conform to the trend, where the proportion of vaccination in these cities is higher than their share of the population.
Here is a State-wise snapshot:
Large Metros report a higher variation between proportion of population & vaccination
While it is evident that the share of the vaccinated population in the districts with these cities is higher than the share of their population, the difference is starker in the case of the large metros.
Districts with Mumbai constitute 13.4% of Maharashtra’s population while they are home to 17.4% of the vaccinated population in the state. Another large city in the state i.e., Pune, constitutes 8.3% of the population and 13% of the vaccinated population in the state. In other words, the districts with these two cities comprise around 22% of the state’s population but account for 40% of Maharashtra’s vaccinated population.
The case of Hyderabad as highlighted earlier is also similar. The districts with Hyderabad account for 26% of Telangana’s population but are home to 40% of Telangana’s vaccinated population. The same is the case with Bengaluru as highlighted above.
Districts with Kolkata have nearly 25% of West Bengal’s vaccinated population, but their share in the state’s population is around 16%. Chennai district constitutes only around 7% of the State’s population but home to 21% of the state’s vaccinated population.
Urban Centres & Metros way ahead in Vaccination Coverage
The analysis of these 53 cities further substantiates the trends observed in the earlier story, that there is a considerable skew towards urban areas in terms of vaccination coverage. Even among urban areas, the large cities & metros are way ahead of the rest of the state. While the skew is understandable because of the dense population & larger incidence of COVID-19 in these cities, the difference in vaccination coverage between these cities & the rest of the districts in the states is concerning. It is time for the governments to ensure a more even distribution since the second wave has also hit the rural parts of many of these states.
Featured Image: Vaccination Coverage in Indian States