India becomes fastest country to Vaccinate 100 Mn citizens in 85 days: But breaks record of daily cases as well
The milestone was achieved at a time when the state governments claim there is a shortage of vaccines. India is currently recording over 1.5 lakh cases everyday, which is very alarming.
The US took 89 days to administer 10 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccine, while China took 102 days to do it but India achieved the feat within 85 days.
It has been administering around 30 lakh doses daily since April 1 when is the third phase of vaccination began across the nation. All people above the age of 45 years are now eligible to get a vaccine shot against coronavirus.
The Prime Minister’s Office also tweeted a chart showing India as the fastest country to reach this vaccination milestone, calling it “strengthening efforts to ensure a healthy and COVID-19 free India”.
The extension of vaccine coverage to those above 45 years along with the recent provisions for them to get vaccinated at their workplaces (govt and private) form a series of pro-active, collaborative and coordinated steps taken by the Centre and the State governments for safety and prevention of precious lives from the infectious COVID disease. This along with the efficient clinical management has thus far ensured that India has the lowest fatality rate in the world (1.28%).
The achievement is also a testimony of the ‘whole of society’ approach where individuals turned a deaf ear to rumours and propaganda of vested interests, shunned their vaccine hesitancy and strengthened the hand of the administration in curbing COVID-19. 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.
In terms of the number of daily doses administered globally, India continues to remain at the top with an average of 40 lakh doses administered per day, the ministry said earlier during the day. The cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country stands at 10,12,84,282 as per the provisional report at 7.30 pm.
“These include 89,88,373 HCWs who have taken the 1st dose and 54,79,821 HCWs who have taken the 2nd dose, 98,67,330 FLWs (1st dose), 46,59,035 FLWs (2nd dose), 3,86,53,105 1st dose beneficiaries and 15,90,388 2nd dose beneficiaries more than 60 years old and 2,82,55,044 (1st dose) and 5,82,064 (2nd dose) beneficiaries aged 45 to 60,” the Health ministry said in a statement.
Having let its guard down with mass religious festivals, political rallies and spectators at cricket matches, India is experiencing a ferocious new wave with around 10 lakh new cases in the past week. On Sunday, the country added 1,57,879 new infections.
India currently leads the world in the daily average number of new infections reported in more than two weeks, accounting for one in every six infections reported globally each day.
Deaths have also surged, with the health ministry reporting 839 fatalities on Sunday – the highest in more than five months – taking the total to 1,69,275.
India’s tally of more than 1.33 crore cases is the third-highest globally, behind the United States and Brazil. India’s new infections have soared nearly 18-fold since hitting a multi-month low in early February.
