News Analysis India

Tag: India COVID Vaccination

  • Omicron threat: PM Modi holds Covid review meeting; vaccination figures near 141 crore mark

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a review meeting on the COVID-19 situation in the country on Thursday evening amid rising concerns over the spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

    Official sources said Modi took stock of the pandemic situation across the country in a high-level meeting attended by senior officials and experts.

    India has recorded 236 cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus across 16 states and Union Territories (UTs) so far, out of which 104 people have recovered or migrated, according to the Union health ministry data updated on Thursday.

    In a communication to the states and UTs on Tuesday, the Centre said the Omicron variant of the coronavirus is at least thrice more transmissible than its Delta variant and asked them to “activate” war rooms, keep analysing even small trends and surges and keep taking strict and prompt containment action at the district and local levels.

    There have been demands that the government allow booster doses of vaccines to be administered to those already fully inoculated against COVID-19, as has been done by many countries.

    Meanwhile, the cumulative COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in India crossed 140.24 crore on Thursday, the Union Health Ministry said.

    Over 51 lakh vaccine doses have been administered on Thursday till 7 pm, it said.

    The ministry said the daily vaccination tally is expected to increase with the compilation of the final reports for the day by late in the night.

    The countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16 with healthcare workers getting inoculated in the first phase.

    The vaccination of frontline workers started from February 2.

    The next phase of COVID-19 vaccination commenced from March 1 for people over 60 years of age and those aged 45 years and above with specified co-morbid conditions.

    The country launched vaccination for all people aged more than 45 years from April 1.

    The government then decided to expand its vaccination drive by allowing everyone above 18 to be vaccinated from May 1.

  • Low Covid vaccination coverage: PM to hold review meeting with DMs of over 40 districts

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a review meeting on November 3 with district magistrates of over 40 districts having low COVID-19 vaccination coverage, the PMO said on Sunday.

    The meeting, which will be held via video conferencing, will include districts with less than 50 per cent coverage of the first dose and low coverage of the second dose of the vaccine, it said.

    The 40 districts are spread across Jharkhand, Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Maharashtra and Meghalaya among other states, and chief ministers of these states will also attend the meeting.

    Modi will be holding the meeting immediately on his return from abroad after attending the G20 and COP26 meetings, the PMO noted.

    Highlighting the need to accelerate the pace and coverage of vaccination, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya had recently stated that there are more than 10.

    34 crore people in the country who have not taken the second dose of the vaccine after the expiry of the prescribed interval.

  • Over 111 crore Covid vaccine doses provided to states, UTs: Centre

    More than 12.73 crore (12,73,62,006) balance and unutilised vaccine doses are still available with the states and UTs, the Union health ministry said on Saturday.

  • India crosses 1 billion Covid vaccine mark, Covishield proves to be lynchpin of drive

    Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: After 279 days since the nationwide Covid vaccination drive was launched in India, the country on Thursday pulled off a remarkable feat of administering 100 crore vaccine doses, largely supported by the Covishield which has remained the lynchpin of the ambitious campaign.

    The country’s target to fully vaccinate all the 93 crore adult population by the year-end might still be a long shot as so far only 31% of the 18-plus age group has received both doses of the vaccine against coronavirus.

    On the occasion, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a series of tweets called the achievement a “triumph of Indian science and the collective spirit of people.”

    ALSO READ | Country now has strong ‘protective shield’ of 100 crore vaccine doses against pandemic: PM Modi

    “India scripts history,” he wrote. “We are witnessing the triumph of Indian science, enterprise and the collective spirit of 130 crore Indians. Congrats India on crossing 100 crore vaccinations. Gratitude to our doctors, nurses and all those who worked to achieve this feat.”

    He also said that the vaccine has brought pride and protection to the lives of citizens.

    By Thursday evening, a total of 1,00,57,42,472 Covid vaccine doses had been administered in India with the highest — 12.31 crore shots — given in the most populous state, Uttar Pradesh. Of the total doses administered, over 88% were that of the Serum Institute of India’s Covishield while Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin has remained a minor player.

    Russia’s Sputnik V, also available in India since May in select parts, on the other hand, has had a very limited role in the country’s vaccination campaign.

    India had started the vaccination campaign on January 16 this year and in the beginning, only healthcare workers were offered the shots. The drive however was later extended to frontline workers, before being opened up also for 60-plus population groups and those between 45 and 60 years with specified co-morbidities.

    ALSO READ | Tharoor credits government for COVID vaccine milestone; Khera says ‘insult’ to families who suffered ‘mismangement’

    The vaccinations however started for all adults beginning May 1 and picked up speed from June 21 when the Centre revised its inoculation strategy and decided to supply 75% of all available vaccines to states after directly procuring them from manufacturers while permitting 25% of vaccines to be used by private hospitals at a price.

    Despite the gain in the pace of vaccination over the last few months, the latest figures shared by the Union health ministry however showed that nearly 25% of the population has not received even one dose of Covid vaccine while 44% of the population is only partially vaccinated.

    These figures are crucial as the Centre itself, on many occasions, had said that a large number of people with one dose of Covid vaccine are missing out on their scheduled second doses.

    The experts on Thursday said that while the feat achieved by India is significant, it would need nearly 1.2 crore doses every day from now if it has to completely vaccinate all the adults by the year-end, as authorities had said before.

  • Over 92 crore vaccine doses administered in India so far, says Health Ministry

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The cumulative COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country crossed 92 crore on Tuesday, the Union Health Ministry said.

    Over 54 lakh vaccine doses have been administered on Tuesday till 7 pm and the tally is expected to increase with the compilation of the final reports by late in the night, it said.

    The vaccination exercise as a tool to protect the most vulnerable population groups in the country from COVID-19 continues to be regularly reviewed and monitored at the highest level, the ministry underlined.

    The countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16 with healthcare workers getting inoculated in the first phase.

    Vaccination of frontline workers started on February 2.

    The next phase of COVID-19 vaccination commenced from March 1 for people over 60 years and those aged 45 and above with specified co-morbid conditions.

    The country launched vaccination for all people aged more than 45 years from April 1.

    The government then decided to expand its vaccination drive by allowing everyone above 18 to be vaccinated from May 1.

  • Seventy per cent of India’s adult population administered first dose COVID vaccine: Mandaviya

    With the administration of 23,46,176 vaccine doses in the last 24 hours, the cumulative COVID-19 vaccine doses administered has exceeded 90.79 crore as per provisional reports till 7 am.

  • 22,842 new COVID cases in India, active infections in country lowest in 199 days

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: India added 22,842 new coronavirus infections taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,38,13,903, while the active cases declined to 2,70,557, the lowest in 199 days, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Sunday.

    The death toll climbed to 4,48,817 with 244 fresh fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am.

    The active cases comprise 0.80 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 97.87 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the ministry said.

    A decrease of 3,332 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

    India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16.

    It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.

    India crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4 and three crore on June 23.

  • Over 90 crore Covid vaccine doses administered in India so far: Health Ministry

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: India’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage has crossed the 90 crore mark with over 65 lakh vaccine doses administered on Saturday, the Union Health Ministry said.

    The daily vaccination tally is expected to increase with the compilation of the final reports by late in the night, it said.

    “India’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage has crossed the 90 crore landmark milestone (90,42,59,810) today. More than 65 lakh (65,27,196) vaccine doses have been administered till 7 pm today,” the ministry said.

    According to data shared by the ministry, of the total number of doses administered, 65,77,50,687 were first jabs and 24,65,09,123 second ones.

    The vaccination exercise as a tool to protect the most vulnerable population groups in the country from COVID-19 continues to be regularly reviewed and monitored at the highest level, the Union Health Ministry said.

    The countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16 with healthcare workers getting inoculated in the first phase.

    Vaccination of frontline workers started on February 2.

    The next phase of COVID-19 vaccination started from March 1 for people over 60 years of age and those aged 45 and above with specified co-morbid conditions.

    The country launched vaccination for all people aged more than 45 years from April 1.

    The government then decided to expand its vaccination drive by allowing everyone above 18 to be vaccinated from May 1.

  • 89.67 crore Covid vaccine doses administered in country: Health Ministry

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The cumulative COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country crossed 89.67 crore on Friday, the Union Health Ministry said.

    More than 62 lakh vaccine doses were administered till 7 pm on Friday.

    The daily vaccination tally is expected to increase with the compilation of the final reports for the day by late night, the ministry said.

    The vaccination exercise as a tool to protect the most vulnerable population groups in the country from COVID-19 and continues to be regularly reviewed and monitored at the highest level, it said.

    The country-wide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16 with healthcare workers (HCWs) getting inoculated in the first phase.

    The vaccination of frontline workers (FLWs) started on February 2.

    The next phase of COVID-19 vaccination commenced from March 1 for people over 60 years and those aged 45 and above with specified co-morbid conditions.

    The country launched vaccination for all people aged more than 45 from April 1.

    The government then decided to expand the vaccination drive by allowing everyone above 18 to be vaccinated from May 1.

  • Nearly 89 crore Covid vaccine doses administered in India: Government

    According to the ministry #39;s data, a total of 64,98,28,333 first doses and 23,97,86,150 second doses of the vaccine have been administered across the country.