At 80 lakh, India clocks single-day highest vaccination record

Over 80 lakh COVID vaccine doses were administered on Monday (June 21) across the country in the last 24 hours — a record — on day one of the Centre’s new vaccination policy roll-out. Remember, the Centre plans to vaccinate at least 1 crore people daily to speed up the inoculation process. Among states, Madhya Pradesh took the lead, with a humungous 15 lakh doses, followed by Karnataka (10 lakh).

Responding to the feat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the “record-breaking vaccination numbers are gladdening”.

“The vaccine remains our strongest weapon to fight COVID-19. Congratulations to those who got vaccinated and kudos to all the front-line warriors working hard to ensure so many citizens got the vaccine. Well done India!” Modi tweeted.

The Centre started providing vaccines free to all above 18 from Monday (June 21). The previous single-day highest vaccine coverage was on April 2, where 42 lakh were dosed.

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India’s cumulative COVID vaccination coverage exceeded 28 crore on Sunday, as per the Union Ministry data. Several states have upped the vaccination drive by undertaking special drives.

For the record, Madhya Pradesh dosed 15 lakh people, Karnataka 10 lakh, Uttar Pradesh 6.6 lakh, Gujarat 5 lakh and Haryana 4.7 lakh. 

In Assam, which has one of the lowest vaccination rates within the country, the Centre launched a special drive that targets to inoculate at least 3 lakh people every day. The Centre had earlier said it plans to vaccinate around 1 crore people every day in its efforts to speed up the process. With limited vaccine supply, it remains to be seen if the Centre can vaccinate the same number of people (69 lakh) or more in the coming days.

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More than 2.98 crore Covid vaccine doses are still available with states and union territories, the Union health ministry said on Monday. So far, 29,35,04,820 vaccine doses have been provided to states and union territories (UTs) through the Centres free of cost channel and the direct state procurement category, it said. Of this, the total consumption, including wastage, is 26,36,26,884 doses, according to data available at 8 am on Monday, the ministry said. “A total 2,98,77,936 COVID-19 vaccine doses are still available with the states and UTs to be administered.

Further, more than 2,310 vaccine doses are in the pipeline and will be received by them within the next three days,” the ministry said. It said that as part of the nationwide vaccination drive, the Centre has been supporting states and UTs by providing them Covid vaccines free of cost.

In addition, the Centre has also been facilitating direct procurement of vaccines by the states and UTs, the ministry said. Vaccination is an integral pillar of the comprehensive strategy for containment and management of the pandemic, along with test, track, treat and Covid appropriate behaviour, it said.

Implementation of the liberalized and accelerated phase-3 strategy of COVID-19 vaccination started from May 1 and under it, every month, 50 per cent of the total Central Drugs Laboratory cleared vaccine doses of any manufacturer would be procured by the Centre, the ministry said. It would continue to make these doses available to state governments free of cost as was being done earlier, it said.