New Delhi: Even though the government and healthcare professionals are concerned about a recent dip in inoculations, India is on track to administer one billion COVID-19 vaccine doses by early today, marking an important milestone after a rocky start.
Mansukh Mandaviya, the Minister of Health, will premiere a song and an audio-visual film at the Red Fort in Delhi at midday to ‘celebrate the historic milestone,’ according to his ministry.
The government has already injected 998.5 million doses, with the AstraZeneca vaccine made domestically by the Serum Institute of India accounting for nearly 90% of the total.
‘I appeal to all unvaccinated Indians to quickly get their shots and contribute to our historic golden vaccination journey,’ Mr Mandaviya said on Twitter.
Dr @MansukhMandaviya ji will launch a song and audio-visual film to celebrate India's milestone of 100 crore #COVID19 vaccinations.
?? October 21, 2021
? 12:30 PM
? Red Fort, New Delhi pic.twitter.com/vnUqeIpvT5— Office of Dr Mansukh Mandaviya (@OfficeOf_MM) October 21, 2021
The government plans to vaccinate all 944 million people in India this year. So far, 75% of them have received at least one dose, and 31% have received two.
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India has so far documented 34.1 million COVID-19 cases and more over 452,000 deaths, the majority of which occurred during a second wave of Delta variant infections that swept the country in April and May. Despite enough supplies, a significant proportion of individuals in India had not taken their second medication by the due date, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday, as new infections plummeted to their lowest level since early March.
Although governments are sitting on record stocks of more than 100 million shots as domestic output of the AstraZeneca vaccine climbs, daily shots have averaged 5 million this month, a fifth of September’s peak. Despite the low number of infections, ministry officials have urged people to get vaccinated as soon as possible, particularly since the current festival season brings family reunions and mass shopping, heightening the possibility of a fresh wave of infections.
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