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Covid-19 vaccine drive in India: 9 states immunise over 75% health workers, Bihar on top
On other frontline workers, the joint secretary said that 2,664,972 have been given shots of the vaccine as of Wednesday evening.
India has administered more than 6.5 million doses of the anti-coronavirus disease (Covid-19) vaccine to its healthcare workers, the Union health ministry said on Wednesday. Addressing a press conference, Mandeep Bhandari, joint secretary in the health ministry, said that total 6,521,785 vaccine doses have been administered to healthcare workers thus far. Out of these, Bhandari said, 6,179,669 beneficiaries have received the first jab while the corresponding figure for the second jab is 342,116.
On other frontline workers, the joint secretary said that 2,664,972 have been given shots of the vaccine as of Wednesday evening.
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India is inoculating its healthcare workers and frontline workers in the first phase of its vaccination drive, which commenced on January 16 and is the largest globally. The drive to administer second shots of the vaccine began on February 13. Two vaccines, Covishield and Covaxin, have been approved for use in the country.
Bhandari further announced that nine states have vaccinated more than 75% of their registered healthcare workers. The list includes Bihar (84.7%), Tripura (82.3%), Odisha(81.5%), Lakshwadeep (81%), Gujarat (80.2%), Chhattisgarh (78.8%), Madhya Pradesh (76.7%), Uttarakhand(76.6%) and Himachal Pradesh (75.1%).
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In a major milestone, India has become the third country to administer more than nine million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, the ministry said on Wednesday. With 9.06 million does administered thus far, India is at the third spot after the United States (55.2 million) and the United Kingdom (16.12 million). According to the ministry, the landmark target has been achieved in just 31 days while the US and UK took 60 days each to reach their respective current numbers.
The drugs regulatory body of India has currently approved two vaccines. Pune-based Serum Institute of India has developed the Covishield vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University while the Covaxin has been developed by Hyderabad's Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Medical Council of Research (ICMR) and National Institute of Virology.
Earlier in the day, the principal secretary to the Prime Minister chaired a high-level meeting to review in detail the progress of Covid-9 vaccination drive across the country and steps to accelerate the pace of vaccination. As per the official statement from the government of India, the officials discussed plans to involve private sector healthcare facilities in a significant way in the ongoing Covid-19 vaccination drive. "This will enable registration of the population in the 50 years plus category for Covid vaccination," the Centre said in the statement.
Meanwhile, India who has been lauded for its efforts to manage the widely spread pandemic will host a workshop on Covid-19 management on February 18. Titled "Covid-19 Management: Experience, Good Practices and Way Forward," the workshop will see participation from countries like Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Mauritius, Nepal, Pakistan, Seychelles and Sri Lanka. "Each country has been invited to participate in one plus one format - health secretary and Head of their Technical Team in charge of Covid management," news agency ANI reported citing sources.
The country's Covid-19 caseload reached 10,937,320 on Wednesday after registering 11,610 new cases in the last 24 hours, according to the Union health ministry. While the number of people succumbing to the disease in the span of the last 24 hours was at 100. The death toll has now reached 1,55,913.
