E-Paper
6.4 million doses given as Covid-19 vaccination drive picks up pace
A total of 6,395,250 doses were administered on Wednesday, according to the Co-WIN dashboard as at 11pm.
Nearly 6.4 million doses of vaccines were administered against Covid-19 across the country till 11pm on Wednesday, as per the health ministry’s Co-WIN dashboard – making it the day with the second highest daily inoculation figures since the start of the drive.
A total of 6,395,250 doses were administered on Wednesday, according to the Co-WIN dashboard as at 11pm. In a major milestone for India’s inoculation drive, the total number of vaccine shots administered across the country crossed the 300 million mark (300,969,538), according to government data.
India’s latest round of vaccinations started on Monday with a record 8.5 million doses administered, but the numbers had seen a slight drop on Tuesday when there were around 5.4 million daily jabs with numbers fluctuating heavily across states.
The central government on Wednesday said it has now removed all bars on age-wise use of vaccines for states. “With effect from June 21, both the state government and Government of India supplies, irrespective of the type of supply, are to be used for population above 18 years as all categories of priority groups are now unified and are to be provided vaccination free of cost at the state-designated government Covid vaccination centre,” the health ministry said in a statement.
Around 52 million people have been completely vaccinated across the country (having received both shots), while another 193 million people have been partially vaccinated, according to government data.
Officials in the Union health ministry said keeping in mind vaccine the supplies in hand, they expect daily numbers to remain around the 5 million mark for the rest of June. “With the vaccine supplies at hand, and the way states are performing the drive, it looks like the number will remain steady at more-or-less 5 million doses a day. But in July, we expect the numbers to go further up,” said a senior health ministry official, requesting anonymity.
Government experts overlooking the country’s Covid-19 vaccination rollout said they expect the country to be prepared to administer around 10 million jabs on a single day by August, and added that vaccine availability will not be an issue in coming weeks with about 200–220 million doses likely to be available in July.
“Our aim is to vaccinate at least one crore people every day. Our capacity is such that we will easily be able to administer 1.25 crore doses of Covid-19 vaccine every day,” said Dr NK Arora, chairperson, national technical advisory group on immunisation in India (NTAGI).
India’s vaccine drive began on January 16, for health care workers, expanded to include all front-line workers on February 2, and then, everyone over the age of 60 years and people over the age of 45 with co-morbidities, on March 1. On April 1, it was further expanded to include everyone over the age of 45. Then, in response to demand from states and people, the drive was opened up further, to everyone over the age of 18 years, although states were told they would have to pay for the vaccines of those between the ages of 18 and 45.
