600 million COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in India

INTERNATIONAL DESK: The cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country surpassed the 60-crore (600 million) mark on Wednesday, federal Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said.

“Under PM @NarendraModi ji’s #SabkoVaccineMuftVaccine initiative, India crossed the 60 crore vaccination mark. Congratulations everyone!” he said in a tweet.

India took 85 days to touch the figure of 10 crore. It then took 45 days to cross the 20-crore mark and 29 more days to reach 30 crore, the minister informed.

The country took 24 days to reach 40 crore from 30 crore and then 20 more days to cross 50 crore vaccinations on August 6. It took 19 more days to go past the 60-crore mark, Mandaviya said.

The countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16 with healthcare workers (HCWs) getting inoculated in the first phase. The vaccination of frontline workers (FLWs) started from February 2.

The next phase of COVID-19 vaccination 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 more than 45 years from April 1.

The government then decided to expand its vaccination drive by allowing everyone above 18 to be vaccinated from May 1.

Meanwhile, India will supply millions of additional Covid-19 vaccine doses to its states to try to inoculate all schoolteachers by early next month, the health minister said on Wednesday, as the country gradually resumes physical classes.

The pandemic has hit the country of 1.35 billion people particularly hard and hundreds of millions of its students have been stuck at home for months, with little or no access to online education for a majority of the poor.

India last week approved its first Covid-19 vaccine for older children and is trying to urgently immunise all of its nearly 10 million schoolteachers. The country has been vaccinating its adults since the middle of January.

“We have requested all states to try to vaccinate all schoolteachers on priority before Teachers’ Day, which is celebrated on Sep. 5,” Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Twitter. (Gulf News)