On the occasion of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 71st birthday, India on Friday set a record and administered over 2.5 crore Covid-19 vaccine doses. The country’s cumulative figure has jumped to over 79 crore. Out of all states, Karnataka topped the ongoing vaccination drive against coronavirus with over 26.9 lakh doses, followed by Bihar (over 26.6 lakh doses), Uttar Pradesh (over 24.8 lakh doses), Madhya Pradesh (over 23.7 lakh doses) and Gujarat (over 20.4 lakh doses).
According to data on the Co-WIN portal, the numbers went up steadily through the day with the cumulative number of jabs inoculated in the country crossing 79.25 crore at 10 pm.
The final tally will be higher when data arrive from all centres late in the night, officials said.
Thanking the people of the country, the Prime Minister tweeted, “Every Indian would be proud of today’s record vaccination numbers. I acknowledge our doctors, innovators, administrators, nurses, healthcare and all front-line workers who have toiled to make the vaccination drive a success. Let us keep boosting vaccination to defeat Covid-19.”
Every Indian would be proud of today’s record vaccination numbers. I acknowledge our doctors, innovators, administrators, nurses, healthcare and all front-line workers who have toiled to make the vaccination drive a success. Let us keep boosting vaccination to defeat COVID-19.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 17, 2021
Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya tweeted in Hindi, “#VaccineSeva a gift to the prime minister on behalf of health workers and people of the country. On the birthday of Prime Minister Narendra Modi today, India has crossed the historic figure of administering 2 crore vaccine doses in a day, setting a new record. Well done India!”
India has crossed Europe in the total number of vaccine doses administered so far, the government said.
On Friday, it said, 17 lakh doses were administered per hour, 28,000 doses per minute and 466 doses per second. Some opposition leaders said it would have been much better if the government conducted vaccination on a such large scale daily, and not just on PM Modi’s birthday.
RJD MP Manoj Kumar Jha tweeted, “The scale of vaccination reached today underlines that we indeed have the capacity to increase the daily vaccination targets. Only thing required is to free the ‘drive’ from ‘Event-Management’ mode. Jai Hind.” The daily vaccinations crossed the one-crore mark for the fourth time in less than a month. Mandaviya said this is the fastest pace at which one crore doses have been administered.
“On PM @Narendra Modi Ji’s birthday, till 1:30 pm, the country has crossed the mark of 1 crore vaccines, the fastest so far, and we are continuously moving forward. I believe that today we will all make a new record of vaccination and give it as a gift to the prime minister,” he had said in a tweet in Hindi earlier along with the hashtags “VaccineSeva” and “HappyBdayModiji”. The daily Covid-19 vaccination in the country was over 1 crore on September 6, August 31 and August 27.
The WHO South-East Asia Regional Office (WHO SEARO) congratulated India for reaching the milestone of administering two crore doses of Covid vaccines in a single day. WHO SEARO has tweeted, “Congratulations India for yet another milestone! Mandaviya on Thursday had called for a major push to the Covid-19 vaccination drive during Prime Minister Modi’s birthday on Friday, saying it would be the perfect gift for him.
The BJP has asked its units across the country to help get a large number of people vaccinated on the occasion. India took 85 days to touch the 10-crore vaccination mark, 45 more days to cross the 20-crore mark and 29 more days to reach the 30-crore mark, according to the ministry.
The country took 24 days to reach 40 crore from 30 crore doses and then 20 more days to cross the 50-crore vaccination mark on August 6, it said. It took 19 more days to go past the 60-crore mark and took only 13 days to reach 70 crore from 60 crore on September 7, the ministry said.
The total number of doses administered crossed the 75-crore mark on September 13. Today, the Union Ministry of Health is running the ‘Vaccine Seva’ campaign, official sources said.
As a part of this campaign, Mandaviya visited Safdarjung Hospital to take stock of the ongoing vaccination there. “When the Union Health Minister was taking stock of the vaccination campaign in the hospital, at the same time the country crossed the figure of 2 crore vaccinations in a day at 5 pm. Expressing happiness, Mandaviya raised his fist in the air and said that ‘we did it’,” an official source 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.
(with inputs from PTI)
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