India crosses 75 crore Covid-19 vaccine doses
NEW DELHI: India has crossed the landmark of administering 75 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said Monday.
More than 71 lakh doses were administered on Monday till 7 PM, according to the provisional data available on the Co-WIN portal.
The daily vaccination tally is expected to increase with the compilation of the final reports for the day by late night, the ministry said.
According to the 7 pm provisional data available on the portal, over 57 crore people have been vaccinated with the first dose and more than 18 crore with their second.
The country has also jabbed more than 99 per cent healthcare workers (HCWs) and frontline workers (FLWs ) with at least one shot of COVID-19 vaccine, it said.
Mandaviya said the country’s vaccination drive continues to achieve new dimensions of success under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and with his mantra of “Sabka Saath, Sabka Prayas (together with everybody, with everybody’s efforts”.
“Congratulations India! In the 75th year of independence, the country has crossed the figure of 75 crore vaccinations,” the health minister tweeted with hashtags #SabkoVaccineMuftVaccine and #AazadiKaAmritMahotsav.
The WHO’s southeast Asia office also lauded India for accelerating COVID-19 vaccination drive and achieving the 75-crore mark.
“WHO congratulates India for scaling up COVID-19 vaccination at an unprecedented pace. While it took 85 days to administer first 100 million doses, India reached 750 million doses from 650 million in just 13 days,” Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, WHO South-East Asia, said in a WHO statement.
So far, all adult people in six states and union territories — Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Goa, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Ladakh and Lakshadweep — have received at least one dose of the vaccine.
India took 85 days to touch the 10-crore vaccination mark, 45 more days to cross the 20-crore mark and 29 more days to reach 30 crore, Mandaviya said.
The country took 24 days to reach 40 crore from 30 crore doses and then 20 more days to cross the 50-crore vaccination mark on August 6.
It took 19 more days to go past the 60-crore mark and only 13 days more days to reach 70 crore on September 7.
Cumulatively, over 30 crore people in the age group 18-44 years across all states and UTs have received their first dose and more than 4.5 core their second dose since the start of phase-3 of the vaccination drive on May 1.
The countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16 with healthcare workers getting inoculated in the first phase. Vaccination of frontline workers started from February 2.
The next phase of the vaccination drive commenced from March 1 for people over 60 years of age and those aged 45 and above with specified co-morbid conditions.
The country launched vaccination for all people aged over 45 years from April 1. The government then decided to expand the vaccination drive by allowing everyone above 18 to be vaccinated from May 1.
The vaccination exercise as a tool to protect the most vulnerable population groups in the country from COVID-19 continues to be regularly reviewed and monitored at the highest level, the ministry said.
Source: Press Trust of India
