With initiatives like mega drives of Covid vaccination in Lucknow that administered 1.7 lakh doses in a single day and 25 million vaccinations a day on 17th September, India today reached a new milestone today by scoring 100 crore jabs!
This is significant as in the fight against Covid since last year, the inoculation drive started across the country on January 16th this year, taking just nine months. This milestone was achieved half an hour after 10 am. According to the official data available, till now 75% of the beneficiaries have received the first dose of the vaccine while 31% of the entire eligible population has been vaccinated fully. The vaccinations are yet to begin for children.
In the presentation on the opportunity of ‘vaccine century,’ the government gave the stats that the doses given are twice the number of vaccines administered in the United States, five times that of Japan, nine times that of Germany and 10 times the number of France.
Only China has yet administered a billion doses and reached the milestone in June. Within the country, eight states and Union Territories – Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu, Goa and Lakshadweep – have achieved 100% first doses coverage while four more have crossed the 90% mark.
The government release further said that this is the fastest vaccine to be introduced for inoculation – developed in 2020 and implemented at the starting of 2021. Other vaccines like BCG, Hepatitis B and measles took decades before they were introduced.
On the occasion, the Prime Minister tweeted –
आज 21 अक्टूबर, 2021 का ये दिन, इतिहास में दर्ज हो गया है।
— PMO India (@PMOIndia) October 21, 2021
भारत ने अब से कुछ देर पहले 100 करोड़ वैक्सीन डोज का आंकड़ा पार कर लिया है।
100 साल में आई सबसे बड़ी महामारी का मुकाबला करने के लिए, देश के पास अब 100 करोड़ वैक्सीन डोज का मजबूत सुरक्षा कवच है: PM @narendramodi
As India has achieved this historical landmark, the health ministry has planned several events to mark the occasion. Reportedly, the Health Minister will release a song and an audio-visual film at the Red Fort to celebrate this milestone and the Prime Minister will also visit Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in Delhi.
The Centre also counted the milestones in the vaccination drive – the first 10 crores (100 million) doses were administered in just 85 days of the launch, CoWIN – the digital platform for vaccination – has registered 76 crore beneficiaries and the introduction of two made in India vaccines – Covishield and Covaxin – within 11 months of the discovery of the first case in the country and fastest ever approvals granted for the vaccines. It also said that India used drones for the first time to deliver vaccines to remote corners of the country.
Though there is still a long way to go, it’s a moment of pride and success of collective efforts by various institutions of the country. On the occasion, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus tweeted his best wishes –
Congratulations, Prime Minister @narendramodi, the scientists, #healthworkers and people of #India, on your efforts to protect the vulnerable populations from #COVID19 and achieve #VaccinEquity targets.https://t.co/ngVFOszcmE
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) October 21, 2021
