India achieves the landmark one crore COVID-19 vaccination mark

By Abhilasha On Oct 21, 2021 0

Delhi Covid-19 cases — (Photo: Qamar Sibtain/ IANS)

New-Delhi: India on Thursday achieved the milestone of administering 100 crore covid vaccine doses. According to government’s CoWin website, over 70 crore people have been administered the first dose while 29 crore have received the full doses.

The top five states that have administered the highest number of vaccine doses are Uttar Pradesh, followed by Maharashtra, West Bengal, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.

The government said that the first 10 crore (100 million) doses were administered in just 85 days of the launch of the vaccination drive.

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Wednesday appealed to all those who are eligible to get inoculated without delay and contribute to the historic vaccination journey of India.

Congratulating the people and healthcare workers, Dr VK Paul, Member-Health at NITI Aayog, said it’s remarkable to reach 100 crore billion dose mark for any nation, an achievement in just over nine months since the vaccination program started in India.

Congratulations to the people&healthcare workers of India. It’s remarkable to reach 1 billion dose mark for any nation,an achievement in just over 9 months since the vaccination program started in India: Dr VK Paul, Member-Health,NITI Aayog on India crossing 100 crore vaccination pic.twitter.com/k9VMkf0OlY

— ANI (@ANI) October 21, 2021

India’s COVID-19 vaccination drive was launched on January 16, 2021. The drive was opened for Health Care Workers (HCWs) and then from February 2, front-line workers were made eligible for vaccination. These included State and Central Police personnel, Armed Force Personnel, Home Guards, Civil Defence & Disaster Management Volunteers, Municipal workers, Prison Staff, PRI Staff and Revenue workers involved in containment and surveillance, Railway Protection Force and election Staff.

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

In India, three vaccines have been in emergency use namely, Covishield (Oxford AstraZeneca’s vaccine manufactured by Serum Institute of India), Covaxin (manufactured by Bharat Biotech Limited) and Sputnik V (developed by Gamaleya Research Institute, Russia).