Covid-19 vaccination: Over 16 lakh inoculated in 9 days, Karnataka leads the way

India has inoculated more than 16 lakh healthcare and frontline workers till January 24, in nine days since the nationwide Covid-19 vaccination programme began, according to government data which also said that more than 31,000 healthcare workers were vaccinated in five states on Sunday.

"31,466 beneficiaries were vaccinated till 7.30 pm today in these States viz. Haryana (907), Karnataka (2,472), Punjab (1,007), Rajasthan (24,586) and Tamil Nadu (2,494). 693 sessions were held till 6.30 pm today," the release further said.

Karnataka leads the overall tally, with 1,91,443 beneficiaries getting the Covid-19 vaccine, according to government data. The other leading states are Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Telangana. All these states have vaccinated over one lakh people.

The government data also said that only 10 Adverse Events Following Immunization (AEFIs) have been reported till 7.30 pm on Sunday.

India was the fastest to administer Covid-19 vaccine doses to one million people, reaching the milestone in just six days. The United Kingdom took 18 days whereas the United States took 10 days to reach the one million mark, according to the Union health ministry.

The ministry further said on Sunday that India's active cases of Covid-19 stand at 1,84,408 which comprises 1.73 per cent of the total cases.

With 15,948 recovered cases in a span of 24 hours (till Sunday morning), a net decline of 1,254 cases has been recorded in the total active caseload during the same period.

Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal account for 75 per cent of the total active cases in the country.

Seven more states will be administering the indigenously-developed Covaxin from next week, the health ministry had said on Saturday.

The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) had earlier this month approved Oxford Covid-19 vaccine Covishield, manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, and Covaxin of Bharat Biotech for restricted emergency use in the country, paving the way for a massive inoculation drive.