India administers over 82 lakh Covid-19 vaccine doses on day one of free shots
Madhya Pradesh topped the charts by administering over 15.98 lakh vaccines on Monday
Sagar Kulkarni
Sagar Kulkarni, DHNS, New Delhi,
JUN 21 2021, 19:06 IST UPDATED: JUN 21 2021, 21:26 IST
A medic administers a dose of Covid-19 vaccine to a woman, at Civil hospital in Lucknow. Credit: PTI File Photo
India administered a record 82.7 lakh doses of Covid-19 vaccines in a single day on Monday, as the Centre started providing free vaccines to all above 18 years as part of the liberalised immunisation drive.
According to the Co-Win dashboard, 82,70,212 doses of vaccines were administered at 67,839 vaccination sites across the country till 9:00 pm on Monday.
Madhya Pradesh topped the charts by administering over 15.98 lakh vaccines on Monday, followed by Karnataka which administered more than 10.86 lakh shots to beneficiaries. A total of 28.33 crore doses of vaccines have been administered since the drive began on January 16.
“Today’s record-breaking vaccine numbers are gladdening. The vaccine remains our strongest weapon to fight Covid-19. Congratulations to those who got vaccinated and kudos to all frontline warriors working hard to ensure so many citizens got the vaccine. Well done India,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said.
Monday’s vaccination numbers are the highest for a single day since the immunisation drive against Covid-19 began on January 16. The previous highest single-day vaccination was 43 lakh on April 5.
According to the revised guidelines, vaccine doses provided free of cost by the Centre will be allocated to states and UTs based on criteria such as population, disease burden and the progress of vaccination, and all above the age of 18 will be eligible for the free jabs.
Any wastage of the vaccine will affect the allocation negatively, they said.
The Centre will now procure 75 per cent of the vaccines being produced by the manufacturers in the country, leaving the balance 25 per cent for the private sector.
“The vaccination drive has been ramped up through availability of more vaccines, advance visibility of vaccine availability to States and UTs for enabling better planning by them, and streamlining the vaccine supply chain,” the health ministry said.
In May, more than 7.9 crore vaccines were available for the nationwide Covid-19 vaccination drive, the ministry said, adding that these were ramped up to 11.78 crore in June.
The opposition had targeted the government over the slow pace of the Covid-19 vaccination drive and claimed that 80 lakh doses of vaccines would be required to be administered daily to ensure coverage of the entire population by December this year.
India administered a record 85 lakh doses of Covid-19 vaccines on Monday, as the Centre started providing free vaccines to all above 18 years as part of the liberalised immunisation drive.
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