India's COVID vaccine drive crosses 75 crore milestone; WHO lauds 10 crore jabs in 13 days

Conquering yet another milestone, India on Monday reached the figure of 75 crore total COVID vaccine doses dispensed. Acknowledging India's achievement, the World Health Organization congratulated the country and its administration for scaling up the vaccination drive at an unprecedented pace. Dr. Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director of WHO in South East Asia, in a statement pointed out that the country administered over 100 million doses in a short span of 13 days. 

"While it took 85 days to administer the first 100 million doses, India reached 750 million from 650 million in just 13 days," Dr. Poonam Khetrapal Singh said while extending the congratulatory wishes.

'Congratulations India': Country administers 75 crore vaccine doses 

Taking to his official Twitter handle, Minister of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) Mansukh Mandaviya first broke the news. Outlining that India has administered 75 crore doses in its 75 years of India's Independence, Mansukh Mandaviya credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Sabka sath, sabka prayas' principle for the same. He exuded confidence that with the same principle, India will continue achieving milestones in its vaccination drive one after the other. 

Minister of Information and Broadcasting of India Anurag Thakur also expressed his joy on this significant milestone. Not forgetting to mention that India has developed not just one but two vaccines against COVID-19, Anurag Thakur outlined that the 75-crore mark was a big achievement. "While PM provided vaccines for free, people have participated with enthusiasm on Vaccination," the Minister of Information and Broadcasting said, adding that presently India is leading as far as vaccination is concerned. 

Slamming all those who tried to politicize the vaccination process, he added," We will get freedom from COVID with the help of vaccines."

As per the last official data released by the Health Ministry, five hours before the announcement, the total vaccination doses administered stood at 74,38,37,643. Of which, 1,03, 64,261 were administered as first dose and 85,98,485  as the second dose to Healthcare Workers. For the Front Line Workers, 1,83,37,884 vaccines were administered as the first dose while 1,40,44,281 vaccines were administered as the second dose. 

Age-group 18-44years had received 29,92,22,651vaccines as first dose, while 4,37,98,076 vaccines were given as the second dose. For the age group 45-59, as many as 14,37,03,736 vaccines were administered as the first dose while 6,31,16, 459 vaccines were administered as the second dose. To those over 60, 9,32,06,216 doses were given as the first dose while 4,94,45,594 were given as the second dose. 

Meanwhile, India's act COVID cases continue to see a fall. With  27,254 new COVID-19 cases, and recoveries 34,848, the active cases dipped to 3,74,269 on Monday, as per the Health Ministry.