India achieved a major milestone in its vaccination programme against Covid-19 as the cumulative doses administered surpassed the 200-crore mark on Sunday, 18 months after it began the drive to combat the epidemic that has claimed over 5.25 lakh lives in the country so far.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the people of the country on bringing about this significant feat. He called India’s vaccination drive unparalleled in scale and speed.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated all Indians on crossing the special figure of 200 crore vaccine doses. Taking to Twitter, PM Modi said, “India creates history again! Congrats to all Indians on crossing the special figure of 200 crore vaccine doses. Proud of those who contributed to making India’s vaccination drive unparalleled in scale and speed. This has strengthened the global fight against COVID-19.”
The UNICEF termed it a phenomenal accomplishment and a testament to the grit and dedication of India’s health workers, while the WHO too praised the effort.
Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director WHO South-East Asia congratulated India for administering over 2 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses.
“This is yet another evidence of the country’s commitment and efforts to minimise the impact of the ongoing pandemic. COVID-19 vaccines provide protection against severe disease and death for all variants.
A total of 2,00,00,15,631 people have been vaccinated in the country till 12.30 pm on Sunday. These include 1,01,90,73,891 people receiving the first dose, 92,59,26,880 receiving the second dose and 5,50,14,860 receiving the precautionary dose. At present, vaccination is going on at 14,883 sites, of which 14,166 are government
centres, while 717 are private centres.
According to the Ministry of Health, the country has achieved this figure after seven months from the scheduled time. The government had set a target of two billion vaccine doses by the end of 2021.
Moreover, the country achieved the target of 100 crore vaccinations on 21 October 2021. At the same time, this figure has reached 200 crores after nine months. Notably, the nationwide vaccination drive was started on January 16, 2021.
However, from Friday, the program of administering free precaution doses for the next 75 days to adult citizens across the country under Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav has started. Under which booster doses are being administered to people between 18 and 59.
In eight states, Andhra Pradesh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Lakshadweep, Chandigarh, Telangana and Goa, 100 per cent of the 12 years plus eligible population are fully vaccinated.
With 20,528 new coronavirus infections being reported in a day, India’s tally of COVID-19 cases rose to 4,37,50,599, while the active cases increased to 1,43,449, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Sunday. The death toll climbed to 5,25,709. The active cases comprise 0.33 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.47 per cent, the ministry said.
The Union Health Ministry in a statement said several systematic interventions were carried out in ensuring capacity building for carrying out this nationwide exercise.
Despite the decline in COVID cases across the country, consistent efforts were ongoing to vaccinate all eligible citizens.
“This is exemplified by the fact that it took almost nine months to reach the 100 crore mark and another nine months to reach the 200-crore mark since the start of the vaccination drive on January 16, 2021 with the highest single-day vaccination record of 2.5 crore doses achieved on 17 Sept 2021,” the ministry said.
On July 15, the Union Government launched a 75-day long ‘COVID Vaccination Amrit Mahotsav’ to provide free precaution doses to all eligible adult population at Government COVID Vaccination Centres (CVCs). This special drive, part of the celebration for Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, is being implemented in a ‘mission mode’ to increase uptake of precaution dose.