NEW DELHI: India administered a staggering 2.5 crore Covid vaccinations on Friday (till 10 pm) setting a record for single day inoculations as part of a special drive to mark Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday.
The government is also gearing up for another inoculation milestone – the completion of 100 crore inoculations. While no date has been fixed to achieve this target, the health ministry is eyeing October 7 as a likely day, marking 20 years of Modi heading a government either at the state level or the Centre.
A total of 79.25 crore doses have been administered since the beginning of the vaccination drive. This includes over 59.52 crore first doses and 19.72 crore second doses. With this around 63% of the country’s adult population above 18 has received at least one anti-Covid jab, whereas nearly 21% have received both doses.
According to the ourworldindata website, 42% of India’s population has received one or two doses, while the global average is 43%. Among nations with large populations, China has covered 73%, US 63% and UK 71%. The rolling seven-day average of daily vaccinations (as of September 16) per 100 people. In terms of total shots per 100 population, India is 55/100.
According to the ourworldindata website, 42% of India’s population has received one or two doses, while the global average is 43%. Among nations with large populations, China has covered 73%, US 63% and UK 71%. The rolling seven-day average of daily vaccinations (as of September 16) per 100 people (in total population) shows India at 0.52, with Turkey (0.63), Brazil (0.85), Japan (0.96), South Korea (1.46) and Cuba (2.15). In terms of total shots per 100 population, India is 55/100.
The record number of inoculations on Friday were helped by a significant increase in the number of vaccination sites. Over 1.10 lakh sites conducted vaccinations on Friday, of which 97% were in the government sector. Vaccination sites in the private sector remained at just 3,449. Bihar was the surprise performer, organising a maximum of 13,958 vaccination sites, while Uttar Pradesh had 13,401 and Karnataka 12,063 sites.
While the Centre asked states to encourage vaccination and announced the special vaccination drive “Vaccine Seva” to mark PM Modi’s birthday, BJP spearheaded the campaign at the party level to accomplish the target.
“We are doing about 4,000 vaccinations every second. We did not set any targets. This is a spontaneous outpouring of how citizens feel. We have ensured there is adequate availability of vaccines,” an official source said.
Over 7.68 crore doses of anti-Covid jabs were available with states on Thursday evening and this helped boost vaccination, the source said.
States like Bihar, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat administered the maximum number of doses. While Bihar – which had a slow uptake of vaccines initially – was the frontrunner with 27.81 lakh doses till 10pm, Karnataka was close behind with 27.80 lakh doses, whereas UP, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat also delivered over 20 lakh doses during the day.