India's COVID vaccination count on cusp of overtaking US, Europe & Canada combined

India, in terms of administering COVID-19 vaccination to its citizens, is on the verge of overtaking the United States, Europe and Canada combined. According to the total COVID-19 vaccination data (partial and full vaccination), India had administered over 1.96 billion doses till Monday, June 20.

Europe has administered 1.29 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses till June 19. Similarly, the US and Canada have administered 592.27 million and 85.91 million doses respectively till June 15. 

Currently, the total administration of vaccination combined in the US, Europe and Canada is over 1.96 billion. However, the numbers are likely to rise as data for the US and Canada is till June 15.

Of the total 1,96,17,60,546 vaccine doses administered till 5.50 pm on Monday, 1,01,48,45,542 individuals have been administered one jab while 90,65,16,173 have taken both the jabs. 4,03,98,831 people have also received precaution or booster dose.

COVID vaccination in India

The countrywide COVID-19 vaccination drive was rolled out on 16 January 2021, with healthcare workers getting vaccinated in the first phase. Inoculation of frontline workers began on February 2, last year.

The next phase of vaccination was initiated on March 1, last year, for senior citizens (over 60 years of age) and those aged 45 and above with specified comorbid conditions.

Vaccination for all people aged over 45 years began on April 1, last year.

The Centre then decided to expand the ambit of the vaccination campaign by allowing all adults to be vaccinated against the coronavirus from May 1, last year.

On January 3, the inoculation drive was commended for adolescents aged between 15 and 18 years. India commenced administering precaution doses of vaccines to healthcare and frontline workers and those aged 60 and above with comorbidities from January 10.

The country began inoculating children aged 12-14 on March 16 and also extracted the comorbidity clause making all people aged above 60 eligible for the booster dose of the COVID vaccine. On April 10, India began administering precaution doses of COVID-19 vaccines to all aged above 18 years.