India on Friday set a record –authorities administered over two crores Covid-19 vaccine doses in a day, in a major push to the national vaccination drive, overshooting the Health Ministry's target of 1.50 crore. There couldn’t be a better birthday gift for PM Modi as he turns 71.
The government's tracker showed around 42,000 vaccinations in a minute, said a senior health officer.
Nationwide inoculations started in January in phases, with health workers getting the shots to start with. The drive was extended to all adults from May. It took 85 days to touch the 10-crore vaccination mark, 45 more days to cross the 20-crore mark and 29 more days to reach the 30-crore mark, according to the health ministry.
The vaccination campaign is the centrepiece of the BJP's three-week celebrations to mark the Prime Minister's birthday. To achieve its target, the BJP had egged on health volunteers "to ensure that the maximum number of people get their COVID-19 vaccines on the day".
China inoculated the most number of people in a day - 2.47 crore - in June.
"Well done India!" Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya tweeted in Hindi.
Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate, however, didn't spare the prime minister, accusing him of utter mismanagement on the Covid-19 front -- for the delay in placing vaccine orders and that too in a small number, because of which only 13% of the adult population or 18.7 crore have been given both the doses to date.
In June, 93 nations were ahead of India in administering both the doses, she underlined, noting that the PM was busy in Bengal with electioneering during the outbreak and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) was made to fudge the figures for singing laurels in his praise.
