25% of India’s eligible population fully vaccinated against Covid-19, says health minister Mandaviya

“India's persistence & determination is creating ripples across the global vaccination campaign. 1/4th of the eligible population, a phenomenal 23.7 crore people, is fully vaccinated against #COVID19,” Mandaviya tweeted.

As many as 237 million (23.7 crore) people or one-fourth of the eligible beneficiaries have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in India, Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Thursday, lauding the country’s Covid-19 vaccination drive.

The Union health ministry said 883,470,578 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine have been administered in the country to eligible beneficiaries as of 7am on September 30.(AFP | Representational image)

The minister tweeted this a day after the cumulative number of Covid-19 vaccine doses administered in the country crossed the 880-million mark on Wednesday night.

“India's persistence & determination is creating ripples across the global vaccination campaign,” Mandaviya’s office said in a tweet. “1/4th of the eligible population, a phenomenal 23.7 crore people, is fully vaccinated against #COVID19,” it further said.

Addressing the media at the press briefing of the Union ministry of health and family welfare on Thursday, Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan said that 69% of the country’s population over 18 years of age have received at least one dose of the vaccine.

The ministry earlier in the day said that 883,470,578 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine have been administered in the country to eligible beneficiaries as of 7am in the day.

“With the administration of 65,34,306 vaccine doses in the past 24 hours, India’s Covid-19 vaccination coverage crossed the landmark of 88 core (88,34,70,578) as per provisional reports till 7am today. This has been achieved through 85,92,824sessions,” the ministry said in a statement.

Earlier on September 20, the ministry said that 22.2% of the country’s population have been fully immunised against the disease. Also, close to 65% of the population was covered with at least one dose of the vaccine as of the same date.

Meanwhile, more than 50 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine are remaining unutilised with the states and Union territories in the country as of Thursday, the ministry also noted. Further, another 6.3 million doses are on the supply pipeline to the states and UTs, the ministry also said.

India reported 23,529 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday and with 311 more fatalities, the country’s death toll reached 448,062, according to the latest data. Meanwhile, the active caseload remained under the 300,000-mark and was recorded at 277,020, the ministry’s data showed.