NEW DELHI: India on Friday set a record for daily Covid-19 vaccinations with nearly 2.27 crore doses administered by 10.30 pm, as state governments responded to a call given by the Union health ministry to mark PM Narendra Modi’s 71st birthday as ‘vaccine sewa day’.
By the end of the day, this figure was likely to near the 2.5 crore mark.
Globally, as per information available, the record of maximum vaccinations on a day is held by China, which had administered 2.45 crore shots.
The Co-Win dashboard maintained by the Centre showed that the high inoculations were largely driven by Karnataka, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh. Shots were given at more than 1 lakh vaccination sites — the highest ever — across India on Friday.
Majority of the vaccination sites were at government hospitals with the private sector contributing a minuscule number only.
Notably, in states such as West Bengal and Jhrakhand — both ruled by non-BJP governments and having a low percentage of population covered with at least one dose — there was no dramatic rise on Friday. Thus far, India had crossed the 1 crore a day mark three times, the first being August 27.
Ahead of the PM’s birthday, several states had planned special vaccination drives and while the Gujarat government had declared its intention to administer over 35 lakh doses, the Assam government targeted 8 lakh. The Bihar government had said it would administer nearly 30 lakh doses on Friday.
As on Thursday, about 62% of the adult population in India had received at least one dose while only about 20% was fully inoculated. With high vaccination figures attained on Friday, these figures are set to rise by over two notches each.