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Nearly 6 million vaccinated, India ranks 3rd in world
The country that has vaccinated the most number of people is the United States, followed by the United Kingdom, with 36.82 million and 11.48 million, respectively, having received a vaccine.
India now ranks third among countries for the highest number of Covid-19 vaccines administered to citizens, with close to six million people having been inoculated against the viral disease in the first 23 days of the immunisation drive launched on January 16.
The country that has vaccinated the most number of people is the United States, followed by the United Kingdom, with 36.82 million and 11.48 million, respectively, having received a vaccine.
“India has scaled another global peak in its fight against Covid-19. India has become the third topmost country in the world in terms of the number of COVID19 vaccine doses administered. Only the United States and the United Kingdom remain ahead of India,” the Union health ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
According to the health ministry, states in India have vaccinated more than 200,000 beneficiaries each. Uttar Pradesh, the country’s most populous state, alone accounts for 673,542 of all vaccinations so far, followed by Maharashtra with 473,000 and Rajasthan with 459,000.
As of 8 pm on Sunday, February 7, a total of 5,775,322 people have received a Covid-19 vaccine under the countrywide inoculation drive. The cumulative vaccination coverage includes 5,304,546 health-care workers and 470,776 front-line workers -- municipal staff, police personnel, civil defence staff and so on -- across the country.
Close to 400,000 vaccinations have taken place in the country across 9,000 sessions in the past 24 hours, and at least 100,000 vaccination sessions have been conducted so far in the country.
There has been a sustained increase in the number of people being vaccinated every day, with as high as about 500,000 individuals getting vaccinated on some days.
The number of adverse events following immunizations has also been one of the lowest in the world, with close to 10,000 adverse events reported among health workers in the past 23 days. Twenty-eight persons have been hospitalized in the country after vaccination; there has been no serious adverse reaction due to Covid-19 vaccines. The total percentage of adverse reactions out of total vaccinations is roughly about 0.0005%.
Among 22 deaths reported of health care workers who were vaccinated against Covid-19, none has been linked to the vaccine.
“There is a thorough investigation that follows post any deaths in persons who are vaccinated in the country. The post-morten is conducted by a medical board that comprises at least three doctors. There are also adverse events following immunisation committees at the state and national level that go through the data and reports. So far, our experts have not established causality in any of the deaths,” said a senior health ministry official with knowledge of the matter, who did not wish to be identified.
The debate regarding the safety of Covid-19 vaccines is also settled, said VK Paul, member (health), Niti Aayog, citing Adverse Event Following Immunization (AEFI) data.
“There has been no death attributed to the vaccine, and if there is a side effect in one in 1,150 people, then it is hardly a side-effect. The Covid-19 vaccines are as safe as they can be,” he said.
The country has also reported less than 80 daily deaths related to Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, which is the lowest in nine months.
The country’s Active Caseload was 148,766 as of Sunday. The present active caseload consists of 1.37% of India’s Total Positive Cases.
“India’s cumulative recoveries stand at 10, 522,601 today. The Recovery Rate is 97.19%. 81.07% of the new recovered cases are observed to be concentrated in 6 States/UTs,” the health ministry statement read.
