India’s Vaccine Coverage Crosses 75 Crore Doses; WHO Lauds Unprecedented Pace

New Delhi: India’s cumulative COVID-19 vaccination coverage on Monday surpassed the 75-crore-mark, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare informed.

It prompted World Health Organisation (WHO) to congratulate India for reaching the milestone at an ‘unprecedented’ pace.

“While it took 85 days to administer the first 100 million (10 crore) doses, India reached 750 million (75 crore) doses from 650 million (65 crore) in just 13 days,” WHO South-East Asia regional director Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh was quoted as saying in a tweet by WHO South-East Asia.

Union Health minister Mansukh Mandaviya also took to Twitter to “congratulate India.”

India administered 1 crore-plus coronavirus vaccines on August 27, the first time the feat was achieved in the country since commencement of the nationwide vaccination drive on January 16, 2021.

In the next 10 days, India achieved over 1 crore daily COVID vaccine doses twice more, according to Union Health ministry data.

With India’s above-18 population being around 200 crore, India will need 125 crore more doses to inoculate its entire adult population. If the country can maintain around 1 crore doses daily, India can vaccinate its eligible population by end of January 2022.

But that’ll be easier said than done as the number of vaccine doses continues to vary daily.

Meanwhile, India on Monday recorded 27,254 fresh coronavirus cases, taking the overall tally to 3,32,64,175. A total of 219 deaths were reported following which the toll stands at 4,42,874 since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. India’s active case count stands at 3,74,269, constituting 1.13% of the total cases.