In a major achievement by the country amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, India has vaccinated more than 50% of the eligible population inoculated with the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Calling it an unprecedented milestone, Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Mansukh Mandaviya shared the information on Twitter.

"India achieves unprecedented milestone! 50% of the eligible population inoculated with the first dose of #COVID19 vaccine. Keep it up India (clapping hands sign) Let us fight Corona," the Health Minister tweeted.

This development is a major boost in India's fight against COVID-19 as many parts of the world including the United States are still battling the pandemic. 

Currently, India has administered more than 61 crore vaccine doses. The 60-crore mark was achieved on Wednesday, August 25, with the last 10 crore doses being administered in just 19 days. 

India's COVID vaccination drive in numbers:

• First 10 crore vaccine doses: 85 days
• 20 crore vaccine doses: 45 days
• 30 crore vaccine doses: 29 days
• 40 crore vaccine doses: 24 days
• 50 crore vaccine doses: 20 days
• 60 crore vaccine doses: 19 days

As of the 7 am Thursday update by Health Ministry, 46,68,80,859 individuals have been administered the first COVID-19 vaccine. While 13,69.65,616 people have received both doses.

Coronavirus in India

At present, the maximum COVID-19 cases in India are reported from Kerala. As per the latest data shared by states, Kerala logged 30,007 fresh COVID-19 cases, while Assam and Uttar Pradesh reported 562 and 19 new cases respectively. Tamil Nadu has added 1,559 new cases with Delhi reporting just 45 cases. Notably, no COVID-19 death has been reported in the national capital on Thursday.

India's vaccination drive

India rolled out the world's largest vaccination drive on January 16 to inoculate its citizens against the COVID-19. Currently, three approved vaccines- Serum Institute of India manufactured Covishield, Bharat Biotech's Covaxin and Russia's Sputnik- are being administered to the eligible population at over 57,000 vaccination centres. 

The Centre has also authorised pharmaceutical firm Cipla to import Moderna's COVID-19 Vaccine. The government aims to vaccinate all citizens by the end of this year.

(Image Credits: PTI)