Officials claim record COVID jabs; govt launches PR blitz for Modi birthday
Vaccinations crossed one crore by Friday afternoon – for the fourth time in less than a month – setting up a milestone by the end of the day, an official said
The government’s three-week public relations exercise to mark Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 71st birthday and his completion of 20 years in public service [including his term as Gujarat chief minister] saw the country clock more than 42,000 vaccinations a minute on Friday (September 17).
Vaccinations crossed one crore by Friday afternoon – for the fourth time in less than a month – setting up a milestone by the end of the day, an official said.
“Celebrating the relentless efforts of India’s vaccinators against COVID-19, we have added a ticker to show vaccinations happening in near real-time. We are currently clocking over 42,000 vaccinations/minute or 700/second,” National Health Authority chief RS Sharma tweeted.
“Let’s do #VaccineSeva and give him [PM Modi] birthday gift by getting vaccinated those who have not taken the dose so far,” Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya tweeted on Thursday.
To achieve its target, the BJP had asked health volunteers “to ensure that the maximum number of people get their COVID-19 vaccines on the day”.
India has reported more than one crore vaccine shots per day for several days now.
Senior BJP leaders say the party wants to see the day, Modi’s birthday, “recorded in history” as one that saw a record number of COVID vaccines administered.
By noon, more than 94,00,000 vaccinations had been achieved. Gujarat had crossed five lakh doses, more than the daily doses in the previous seven days.
By afternoon, Bihar had given shots to 7.3 lakh people, three times more than the average of the previous three days. Madhya Pradesh was at more than 5 lakh doses – 75 per cent of the previous two days’ average.