India on Sunday achieved great milestone as 80 percent of the eligible population is now vaccinated against COVID-19. So far, over 38 crore people have received both doses of vaccine while around 37 crore have received one dose.
Former Union Minister Prakash Javadekar in a tweet lauding the milestone appealed to the citizens to help the vaccination coverage reach 100 percent.
"Indeed, a great milestone. 80% of eligible #population of India is now vaccinated. In this, over 38 crore people have received both doses of vaccine while around 37 crore have received one dose. Let’s together create awareness and make it 100% #CovidVaccine," the minister wrote in a tweet.
For the first time since the start of India’s vaccination programme, the number of people in the country who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 has surpassed those who are partially vaccinated, data shows.
The development comes on the back of several weeks of the administration of second doses outstripping that of first doses, a trend that became very clear through October and November as the vaccine coverage reached 80% of the eligible population (at least one dose), a level at which experts expect it to hit a ceiling.
So far, 76,35,08,635 people have taken the first dose while 39,41,90,619 have received their second dose.
On May 13, the Union health ministry announced the widening of the gap between the doses of Covishield from 4-8 weeks to 12-16 weeks. And due to the large proportion of those vaccinated having received Covishield, this change in policy has had a wide effect on the number of people getting second doses.
The country, however, has been closing this gap since the start of October, when administration of second doses started outstripping that of first doses.
Last week, Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya stressed that the completion of the Covid-19 vaccination drive with 100% administration of both the doses to India’s adults is an “immediate necessity.”
Meanwhile, India saw a single-day rise of 11,106 new COVID-19 cases, taking the country's tally to 3,44,89,623, while the active cases have declined to 1,26,620, according to the Union health ministry data updated on Friday.
