This is indeed a landmark achievement for India in its COVID-19 vaccination programme. On the first day of the free inoculation drive for 18 plus citizens, close to 83 lakh (82.7 lakh to be precise) people were vaccinated across the country. The new phase was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 7 June 2021, when he urged all citizens to get vaccinated and encourage others to receive the vaccine jabs.
The government says it is committed to accelerating the pace and expanding the scope of the nationwide COVID19 vaccination drive. The vaccination drive has been ramped up by increasing the availability of vaccines and streamlining the vaccine supply chain to States and UTs for better planning.
Around 4 cr more vaccines made available in June
In the month of May, over 7.9 cr vaccines were available for the nationwide COVID19 Vaccination exercise. These were further raised up to 11.78 cr in June, which includes the free supply of vaccines to states and UTs from the Centre apart from the vaccines directly procured by the States/UTs and the private hospitals.
The Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare provided the states advanced visibility of the vaccine doses available to them in the month of June, which enabled them to prepare vaccine distribution plans district-wise and COVID Vaccination Centre (CVC) wise in an effective manner. This facilitated a massive ramping up of the vaccine administration across the country.
Well done, India!: PM congratulates citizens and workers
Prime Minister Narendra Modi termed the achievement heartening. In a tweet, he congratulated both the frontline workers and the people who came forward to receive the vaccination.
‘Today’s record-breaking vaccination numbers are gladdening. The vaccine remains our strongest weapon to fight COVID-19. Congratulations to those who got vaccinated and kudos to all the front-line warriors working hard to ensure so many citizens got the vaccine. Well done India!,’ the Prime Minister wrote in his tweet.
NDA-ruled states lead new phase of drive on first day
The record on the first day of the new phase of free COVID-19 Vaccination was largely driven by the NDA-ruled states. Madhya Pradesh topped the list of states vaccinating around 15 lakh people, while Karnataka vaccinated over 10 lakh people. States like Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Haryana vaccinated around 5 lakh people each.
Among the non-NDA states, Maharashtra vaccinated around 3.6 lakh people on the first day, over 4 lakh people received the vaccine shots in Rajasthan while Tamil Nadu and West Bengal also crossed the 3-lakh mark. In Odisha and Kerala, respectively 2.8 lakh and 2.6 lakh people were administered the vaccines.
Several states including Punjab, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Delhi could not cross 1 lakh vaccinations.
India braces for heatwave: Top tips to stay safe in sweltering conditions
Flight cancelled or delayed? Guidelines you must know
Assembly elections 2023: Poll schedule for MP, Rajasthan, 3 other states out