Amid largest inoculation drive, India supplying vaccines to 71 nations: RS Prasad hails PM

Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Wednesday praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'dynamic leadership', under which India is carrying out the largest inoculation drive in the country while also helping the world to battle the pandemic with its indigenous vaccines. 

Prasad noted that India has supplied as many as 58.64 million doses of Covaxin and Covishield vaccines to 71 countries around the world, both commercially and free of cost. 

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Saturday announced India has delivered vaccines to 71 countries, with many more nations awaiting vaccine doses, such as Canada and Brazil. He said many developed countries are using Indian vaccines with great zeal. The Health Minister also informed that six more COVID-19 vaccines will come up in India. 

Second-largest Vaccination Drive In The World

Moreover, the vaccination drive in India has ramped up extensively, becoming the second-largest in the world both in terms of daily doses administered as well as total jabs. India registered 1.26 million doses of vaccines administered on average every day in the last week. With this, the country is now only behind the United States which administers 2.5 million doses a day, but does not export any at this point in time. 

As many as 1.84 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered to people so far, and 23 crore tests have been conducted. To boost the inoculation drive and curb rumours surrounding the vaccines, PM Modi and other dignitaries themselves got vaccinated in the second phase. The Prime Minister will hold a meeting of Chief Ministers on the Covid situation in the country on Wednesday.