India crosses 20 crore mark in cumulative covid-19 vaccine coverage
2 min read . Updated: 26 May 2021, 09:14 PM IST
Premium- With this India becomes the second country after the USA to achieve this coverage in just 130 days
India on Wednesday crossed the 20 crores mark of cumulative covid-19 vaccination coverage. With this India becomes the second country after the USA to achieve this coverage in just 130 days. The USA took 124 days to reach the 20 crores mark, the union health ministry said.
Other leading countries in covid-19 vaccination drive include the UK which has reached 5.1 crore mark in 168 days, Brazil that reached 5.9 crore mark in 128 days, and Germany which reached 4.5 crore mark in 149 days.
As per the latest available data with the Union Health Ministry, over 34% population above 45 years has received at least 1st dose of covid-19 vaccine in India till date. Similarly, over 42% of 60+ years of population in India has received at least 1st dose of covid-19 vaccine.
As of date, India is using three vaccines against covid-19 in its immunization drive; these include two made in India vaccines - Serum Institute of India’s Covishield and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin. The Russian Sputnik V is the third vaccine to get approval from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) for Emergency Use Authorisation and is being used in few private hospitals which are expected to be increased over the coming days.
In Phase I of the vaccination drive, started 130 days ago on 16th January, the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for Covid-19 (NEGVAC) prioritized Health Care Workers, and Front Line Workers (both government & private sector). Phase II of the vaccination drive started from 1st March 202, focused on protecting the most vulnerable age groups. These prioritized age-groups included persons above 60 years of age and persons above 45 years with associated specified co-morbidities. This was further relaxed to all people above 45 years of age on 1st April 2021.
In Phase III, ‘Liberalised Pricing and Accelerated National covid-19 Vaccination Strategy’ was adopted on 1st May 2021. Under this strategy, everyone above 18 years of age are eligible for covid-19 vaccination. Under the Strategy, in every month 50% of the total Central Drugs Laboratory (CDL) cleared vaccine doses of any manufacturer would be procured by Govt. of India. It would continue to make these doses available to the State Govts totally free of cost as was being done earlier, the union health ministry said.
“Government of India has so far provided, both through the free of cost category and through direct state procurement category, more than 22 crore vaccine doses (22,00,59,880) to States/UTs," the union health ministry said adding that of this, the total consumption, including wastages is 20,13,74,636 doses. “More than 1.77 crore covid-19 Vaccine doses (1,77,52,594) are still available with the States/UTs to be administered. Furthermore, 1 lakh (1,00,000) vaccine doses are in the pipeline and will be received by the States/UTs within the next 3 days," the government said.
The covid-19 cases continue to rise in India. At least 2,08,921 Daily New Cases were registered in the last 24 hours. Active Cases have decreased since its last peak on 10th May 2021.
A net decline of 91,191is witnessed in the last 24 hours. It now comprises 9.19% of the country's total Positive Cases. highest ever single day tests 22,17,320 were conducted in the last 24 hours in the country and cumulatively 33,48,11,496 tests have been done so far. The Weekly Positivity Rate is currently at 11.45% while the Daily Positivity rate has reduced and now stands at 9.42% today.
