Over 58 lakh healthcare and frontline workers have received COVID-19 jab in the country so far, the Union Health Ministry said on Sunday. India started nationwide coronavirus vaccine drive on 16 January. India is now the third topmost country with the highest doses of COVID-19 vaccine administered after the US and the UK, it said. At least 12 states reported vaccination activity on Sunday — Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Manipur, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tripura and Uttarakhand.
The cumulative number of healthcare workers and frontline workers vaccinated against COVID-19 is 58,03,617 till Sunday, as per the provisional report. A total of 1,16,478 sessions have been held so far, it said, adding that 1,295 sessions were held till 6:40 pm on Sunday. Out of the total cumulative coverage, 53,17,760 are healthcare workers and 4,85,857 frontline workers, the ministry said.
“A total of 28,059 beneficiaries were vaccinated till 6:40 pm on Sunday. Of these, 12,978 were healthcare workers and 15,081 frontline workers,” it said. No adverse events following immunisation (AEFIs) have been reported till 6:40 pm on Sunday. The total 58,03,617 vaccinated beneficiaries include 3,79,042 from Bihar, 2,92,195 from Kerala, 3,88,476 from Karnataka, 3,42,016 from Madhya Pradesh, 4,73,480 from Maharashtra, 1,66,408 from Tamil Nadu, 1,09,589 from Delhi, 4,46,367 from Gujarat, 6,73,542 from Uttar Pradesh and 3,54,000 from West Bengal, according to the provisional report.
India will start distributing second dose of coronavirus vaccine to beneficiaries from 13 February. India has granted emergency use authorisation to two COVID-19 vaccines — Pune-based Serum Institute of India’s Covishield and Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech International Ltd’s Covaxin which are being used in the government’s vaccination drive. At least 12 states and union territories reported 60% or more vaccination coverage of healthcare workers. “They were all advised to improve the percentage coverage of vaccinated beneficiaries as there are many states and UTs that need to improve their performance on this parameter,” the Ministry said on Saturday.
India working on seven more covid-19 vaccines and also working on further vaccine development to ennoculate every citizen of India. But as of now there is no immediate plan to make the vaccine available in the open market.
