Covid-19 vaccination drive was successful on Day 1, says Union health ministry

India's mammoth vaccination drive against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) was successful, the Union health ministry said on Saturday, with 191,181 people given the shot during the first day of the programme. An official of the health ministry said no one hospitalised after being given the Covid-19 vaccine.

There were 16,755 personnel involved in the vaccination drive across India at 3,351 sessions held across the country with both the vaccines during the drive, the official said. Covishield, the Oxford University-AstraZenexa shot being manufactured by Serum Institute of India, was supplied to all states and Union territories and Bharat Biotech's Covasin was sent to 12 states, he added.

There was a delay in uploading beneficiary list at some session sites and healthcare workers not scheduled for the first day were vaccinated but resolutions were provided for both the issues, the official said.

A worker at Delhi's premier All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Manish Kumar, was the first person in India to be vaccinated against Covid-19, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched one of the world's largest immunisation campaigns to bring the pandemic under control.

AIIMS director Randeep Guleria and NITI Aayog's VK Paul were also given the shots in the presence of Union health minister Harsh Vardhan.

After the vaccination of some 30 million healthcare and frontline workers, about 270 million people older than 50 or deemed high-risk because of pre-existing medical conditions will be given the shot during the country's vaccination drive.

More than 10.5 million people in India have been infected with the coronavirus, the highest number of infections after the United States, and more than 152,000 have died.