200M doses with India's states; vaccine hesitancy biggest COVID threat: Adar Poonawalla

Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla on Wednesday, November 17, stated that vaccine hesitancy is the greatest threat in overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic. Adar Poonawalla urged all adults to get vaccinated against the coronavirus at the earliest. He further informed that over 200 million COVID vaccine doses are available with the states and so people must receive the jab as soon as possible. 

Adar Poonawalla wrote on Twitter, that the vaccine industry has worked tirelessly for the nation. With over 200 million doses available with states, "I urge all adults to get vaccinated as soon as possible. Vaccine hesitancy is now the greatest threat in overcoming this pandemic"

India's COVID-19 vaccination drive.

On November 17, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya appealed to all eligible citizens in the country to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. So far, the country has exceeded the 113.68 crore mark in terms of COVID vaccination. Of all the total vaccine doses administered, Serum's Covishield accounts for 90 per cent while close to 10 per cent are Bharat Biotech's Covaxin.

To date, India has administered over 113.68 crore doses. According to the provisional report, this has been achieved through 1,16,73,459 sessions, out of which, 75,57,24,081 doses were administered as the first dose and 38,11,55,604 doses were administered as the second dose.

Odisha government informed that the state is on track to complete 90% of the first dose administration by November 30. According to the state government, with the least amount of vaccine doses wasted in the process, Odisha's vaccination rate has surpassed the national average.

While Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jairam Thakur informed that nearly one crore COVID vaccine doses have been administered in the state, and the entire state's eligible population will be vaccinated by November 30.

India on Wednesday, has reported 10,197 fresh Coronavirus infections with 12,134 recoveries in the past 24 hours, as per the morning report. According to Union health ministry data, out of the total infections, the active cases account for less than 1%, which is currently at 0.37%, the lowest since March 2020. The COVID-19 recovery rate stands at 98.28%. 

(Image: ANI/PTI)