New Delhi: The daily COVID-19 vaccinations crossed the one crore mark on Tuesday for the second time in five days, taking the cumulative doses administered in the country to over 65 crore, the Union Health Ministry said.
Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said the highest one-day record of 1.09 crore vaccine doses has been achieved till 6 PM.
Mandaviya lauded the entire country for the achievement of more than one crore doses being administered for the second day within a span of five days.
He also praised the hard work of COVID warriors and the diligence of citizens in helping achieve the momentous feat of more than 50 crore cumulative administrations of the first dose of the vaccine.
“Another milestone achieved in the world’s largest vaccination drive under PM @NarendraModi ji. 50 crore people received their first #COVID19 vaccine dose.
“I applaud the hard work of COVID warriors and diligence of citizens in helping achieve this momentous feat,” Mandaviya tweeted.
“Congratulations, as India administers another 1 crore #COVID19 vaccinations today Highest one-day record of 1.09 crore vaccine doses achieved till 6 pm – and still counting! Under PM @NarendraModi ji, India is fighting strongly against corona,” he said in another 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 country took 24 days to reach 40 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 on August 25.
“India’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage has crossed 65 crore (65,12,14,767) landmark milestone today,” the health ministry said in a statement.
The daily vaccination tally is expected to increase with the compilation of the final reports for the day by late night.
Cumulatively, 25,32,89,059 individuals in the age group of 18-44 years across states and UTs have received their first dose and 2,85,62,650 have received their second dose since the start of phase-3 of the vaccination drive, according to the health ministry which cited a provisional report till 7 PM.
According to an official source, on an average 74.09 lakh vaccine doses have been administered daily in India in the last one week.
“No other country has been vaccinating its people at such a fast pace as India.
“India is at pole position in the number of vaccine doses administered daily followed by Brazil which is administering on an average 17.04 lakh doses each day,” the source said.
India administered 17 crore vaccine shots in the shortest period of 114 days which is a world record.
The US took 115 days and China took 119 days to administer the same number of doses, official sources said.
On August 27, India administered over one crore vaccine doses in a day, a feat which no other country has been able to emulate yet, the source said, adding it is like vaccinating the entire population of New Zealand twice.
India then went ahead and broke its own record within five days by administering 1.09 crore doses till 6 PM.
Uttar Pradesh alone has administered 7.20 crore vaccine doses till August 31.
In comparison, India’s neighbour Pakistan has inoculated 5.33 crore people so far, the official source said.
All eligible beneficiaries of Himachal Pradesh have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccines.
There are at least eight states and UTs where 75 percent of the people have received at least one dose of the vaccine, sources 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.