India becomes fastest country to give 14 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses, achieves feat in 99 days

File Photo (Reuters)

New Delhi: India on Saturday (April 24, 2021) became the fastest country to give 14 crore coronavirus vaccine doses, a feat achieved on the 99th day of the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive.

The cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered across the country stands at 14,08,02,794, as per the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare's provisional report at 8 pm on Saturday.

These include 92.89 lakh Healthcare Workers (HCWs) who have taken the 1st dose and 59.94 lakh HCWs who have taken the 2nd dose. Over 1.19 crore Frontline Workers (FLWs) have also taken the 1st dose and 62.77 lakh FLWs have taken the 2nd vaccine shot. 

Around 4.76 crore people aged between 45-60 have taken the first shot, whereas, 23.22 lakh people of the same age group have taken the second dose.

4.96 crore people above 60 years have also taken the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while 77.02 lakh have taken the second shot.

Phase-I of the world's largest COVID-19 vaccination drive was launched on January 16, 2021, which prioritized the protection of the health care workers and front line workers. 

Subsequently, phase-II was initiated from March 1 and April 1, which focused on protecting the most vulnerable, ie, everyone above 45 years of age. 

Phase-III, scheduled to begin from May 1, will witness everyone above the age of 18 getting the vaccine against COVID-19. 

In India, the Emergency Use Authorisation has so far been granted to two indigenously manufactured vaccines - COVISHEILD of Serum Institute of India and COVAXIN of Bharat Biotech, On the other hand, a third vaccine, Sputnik, which is presently manufactured abroad, will eventually be manufactured in India.