Coronavirus: Nearly 16 lakh vaccinated in India as pace accelerates
As the first phase of COVID-19 vaccinations is underway in India, nearly 16 lakh healthcare and frontline workers have been inoculated, government data showed. India had launched the drive on January 16, aiming to vaccinate three crore healthcare and frontline workers in the first phase for free using two vaccines: Serum Institute of India's Covishield and Bharat Biotech's COVAXIN. Here are more details.
According to the Union Health Ministry, 15,82,201 people had been vaccinated in 27,920 sessions in India till Sunday morning. In the past 24 hours, 1,91,609 people had been vaccinated in 3,512 sessions. A total of 1,238 adverse events (0.08%) have been reported so far, while 11 persons have been hospitalized (0.0007%). The Ministry said the six reported deaths were not related to vaccinations.
On the first day of COVID-19 vaccinations, India had inoculated 1.9 lakh people. The vaccination drive has been picking up pace as modifications were made to the CoWin database, designed to monitor and track the inoculation process. The modifications have allowed for walk-in vaccinations.
Microbiologist Dr. Renu Gupta, one of the beneficiaries of walk-in vaccinations at the Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital in Delhi on Saturday, told NDTV, "I felt that this is a good opportunity and I should get vaccinated at the soonest." "My turn may have come four-five days later," Dr. Gupta said, "We need to be protected first in order to protect others."
Authorities told the publication that walk-in vaccinations help reduce wastage. Dr. Chavi Gupta, the spokesperson of the Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital, said if enough people do not show up for vaccinations, it is a wastage of manpower. Further, once a vaccine vial is opened, the 10 doses in it have to be used within four hours, which could go to waste, she added.
On Saturday, India had started commercial export of COVID-19 vaccines, supplying two million doses to Brazil, the third-worst affected country in the outbreak after the United States and India. COVID-19 vaccines are also being sent to Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Morocco, Bangladesh, and Myanmar. Earlier, India had supplied vaccines to seven neighboring countries under 'Vaccine Maitri', a grant assistance program.
As of Sunday morning, India had reported a total of 1,06,54,533 COVID-19 infections, recording 14,849 fresh cases in the past 24 hours, data from the Health Ministry showed. The total infections include 1,84,408 active cases and 1,03,16,786 recoveries. 1,53,339 people have also died of COVID-19 in India, out of which, 155 fresh fatalities were reported over the past day.
