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Updated January 16th, 2022 at 23:26 IST

India's COVID vaccination drive completes 1 year: Here's recap of largest vaccine rollout

In a span of exactly 365 days, the country has administered the first dose to 90 per cent of the population while 60 per cent has got their second dose too.

Reported by: Sudeshna Singh
COVID-19
Image: PTI/ANI | Image:self
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As the fight with COVID-19 continues, India on Sunday completed a year of its vaccination drive against the virus. In a span of exactly 365 days, the country has administered the first dose to 90 per cent of the population while 60 per cent has got their second dose too. Not just that, the administration of what is known as the 'precautionary' dose, among the population has also begun. 

A flashback of India's COVID vaccination drive

"Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will launch the pan India rollout of COVID-19 vaccination drive on 16th January 2021 at 10:30 AM via video conferencing," the statement from the Prime Minister's Office on January 14, 2020, said. The statement added, "A total of 3006 session sites across all States and UTs will be virtually connected during the launch. Around 100 beneficiaries will be vaccinated at each session site on an inaugural day."

It is pertinent to mention here that the vaccination drive had begun just for Healthcare and Frontlines workers with just two vaccines in the arsenal- Serum Institute of India's Covishield and Bharat Biotech's Covaxin. 

  • January 16, 2021

India broke the World record of vaccinating the largest number of people on Day-1 of the vaccination drive with 1.91 lakh shots administered. The first person to get a shot was sanitation worker Manish Kumar Kumar at Delhi's premier All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), one of the 30,000 vaccination centres. 

  • March 1, 2021

Starting March 1, 2021, senior citizens and people over 45 but with comorbidities, were included in the vaccination drive. Among the lakhs of people from the eligible group who took their first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine were Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Vice President Venkaiah Naidu among others. 

  • April 1, 2021

In the wake of India reporting more than 50,000 cases every day, and the nationwide tally crossing 12 million, the Centre opened the vaccination drive for those above 45 years on April 1. 

The government by then had given the citizens the option to book an appointment for vaccination using the Co-WIN platform & the Aarogya Setu app or visit their nearest vaccination centre after 3 pm and get on-site registration done.

  • May 1, 2021

With the situation turning 'from bad to worse' with over 2,00,000 cases being recorded every day, the Centre opened the vaccination for all above 18 years of age. 

In a landmark decision, the government allowed vaccine manufacturers to supply 50% of their monthly Central Drugs Laboratory (CDL) released doses to the government and to supply the remaining 50% doses to state governments and in the open market, thus paving way for the private sector to be a part of it. The only condition was that they were required to make an advanced declaration of the price. 

  • November 2021

The Centre launched Har Ghar Dastak (door-to-door) vaccination campaign to achieve 100 per cent first dose coverage

As part of the Har Ghar Dastak campaign, that aimed to ensure that all the adult population is covered with the first dose of vaccine, healthcare workers conducted door-to-door vaccinations of eligible people across India with a special focus on districts where less than 50 per cent of the eligible population has been vaccinated.

  • January 3, 2022

Amid the threat of the third wave, the vaccination drive for the 15-18 years age group began. The states and the Union Territories were advised by the Centre to ensure separate vaccination centres, session sites and queue (if at same session where adult vaccination is ongoing) and separate vaccination team (if at same session site) to avoid the mixing-up of COVID-19 vaccines during the administration of vaccines.

Over 40 Lakhs between 15-18 age group received their first dose of COVID19 vaccine on the 1st day of the vaccination drive. 

  • January 8, 2022

​​​​​​​Thereafter, on January 8, the Centre started administering a third or "precautionary dose" to people aged 60 or more, healthcare workers and frontline workers who took their second dose of vaccine nine months ago.  The beneficiaries will receive a precautionary dose of the same vaccine they took 39 weeks ago. 

At present, over three lakh people are eligible for the precautionary dose. 

From the beginning of the drive till now, more than 156 crore vaccine doses have been administered in India so far under the national vaccination drive.  

Also, in the past 12 months, apart from Covishield and Covaxin, Russia’s Sputnik V, Moderna, Johnson and Johnson’s single-dose vaccine, Zydus Cadila’s ZyCoV-D, Serum Institute of India’s Covovax and Biological E’s Corbevax have received approval. 

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Published January 16th, 2022 at 23:19 IST

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