India achieved a major milestone in its battle against Covid-19 as cumulative vaccinations in the country crossed the 1 billion mark on October 21.
After China, which has administered more than 2 billion doses, India is only the second country to have reached the landmark of 1 billion jabs. While the vaccination graphs of countries with significant populations like the US, Brazil and Indonesia have been largely flat, India’s has been rising steeply. Almost 75% of the eligible population has taken at least the first dose, with eight states and UTs achieving 100% coverage of the first dose. Four more states and UTs have more than 90% coverage of the first dose, according to government data.
After a slow start, which saw it take 85 days to administer the first 100 million doses, India almost halved the time taken to reach the next 100 million to 46 days. The vaccination drive picked up pace thereafter, taking 28 days for the next 100 million. The shortest time taken to 100 million was just 11 days (from 700 million to 800 million). While it took India a total of 202 days to reach the 500 million mark after it began giving shots, it took just 76 days more to hit the 1,000 million landmark. A record 25 million doses were administered in a single day on September17, 2021.
In cumulative numbers too, India ranks second to China in fully vaccinating over 280 million of its population, at least 100 million more than the US and equal to the fully immunised population of Japan, Germany, Russia, France and the UK put together.
Commemorating the achievement, banners were put up at some central government hospitals and refreshments were distributed among the hospital staff and beneficiaries who had come for vaccination.
The Archaeological Survey of India lit up100 of its heritage monuments in colours of the tricolour to mark the milestone as a tribute to health professionals, frontline workers, scientists, vaccine manufacturers and the citizens of the country who bravely fought the pandemic.
Besides that, some mobile networks caller tunes mentioning completion of 1 billion doses was also introduced. Calling the achievement historic, Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed doctors, nurses and all those who had worked tirelessly to enable this moment. "India scripts history. We are witnessing the triumph of Indian science, enterprise and collective spirit of 1.3 billion Indians. Congrats India on crossing 1 billion vaccinations. Gratitude to our doctors, nurses and all those who worked to achieve this feat. #Vaccine-Century",” the PM tweeted.
Vax for kids to be ready by Feb-March: SII
“We will have enough doses available for a booster shot for the elderly and those who need it,” Adar Poonawalla, CEO of Serum Institute of India (SII) that manufactures Covishield, said. The priority, however, should be to ensure everyone in India is fully vaccinated, he said. Poonawalla exuded confidence in meeting the Centre’s goal of immunising all adults by year-end and said Covavax, the Covid-19 vaccine for children, will be ready for a February-March, 2022 launch.
The country is in a good place with a buffer stock of three weeks, he said, adding vaccine stocks monthly have surpassed the rate of vaccination. The share of Covishield licenced by AstraZeneca to SII, stands at over 85% in India immunisation programme.
