Over 7.76 million people vaccinated so far, 33 hospitalised: Govt

The Union health ministry has said that 26 days in which India crossed 7 million vaccinations made the country the fastest to reach the mark.

More than 7.76 people have been vaccinated against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), including 58.9% of targeted healthcare workers, since the launch of the country’s inoculation drive on January 26, the government said on Friday.

A health worker administers a dose of Covaxin against the coronavirus disease at Sanjeevan Hospital in Daryaganj in New Delhi. (Bloomberg)

“A total of 77,66,319 beneficiaries have been vaccinated till February 12, 6pm. Of these, 58,65,813 healthcare workers have been vaccinated, constituting 58.9% of the total healthcare worker target. There are 19,00,506 frontline workers who have been vaccinated or 21.2% of the targeted number,” Mandeep Bhandari, the joint secretary of the Union ministry of health and family welfare, said during a press briefing.

The health ministry has said that 26 days in which India crossed 7 million vaccinations made the country the fastest to reach the mark. The United States was on the second spot and took 27 days to vaccinate 7 million of its citizens, according to the health ministry.

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Bhandari also said that 33 people have been hospitalised after being vaccinated. “Of which, 21 have been discharged from hospital, two are under treatment and 10 deaths have been recorded. The percentage of hospitalisation as against total vaccinations constitutes 0.0004%,” he also said. “The new event of hospitalisation reported in the last 24 hours is a case of anaphylaxis, which was treated at Murshidabad Medical College and Hospital in West Bengal and the patient has been since discharged from the hospital,” the official added.

The schedule for vaccination of frontline workers at least once has been fixed for March 1 and the mop-up round for those who couldn't be vaccinated, should be covered latest by March 6, Bhandari said. “For vaccination at least once, scheduling for all healthcare workers has to be carried out by February 20. Mop up rounds for the healthcare workers shall be completed to end by February 25,” he added.

India’s tally of the coronavirus disease stands at 10,880,603 after 9,309 new infections and 87 deaths were reported between Thursday and Friday morning, according to the health ministry. The count includes 135,926 active cases, 10,589,230 recoveries and 155,447 fatalities across the country.