India surpasses 50-crore mark in vaccine doses; only China is ahead now

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India has administered over 50 crore Covid-19 vaccine doses, with more than 43.29 lakh doses given on Friday. “India soars high on #Covid-19 vaccination, historic record of 50 crore doses administered to date!” Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said in a tweet.

Explaining the pace of vaccination, the minister said India took 85 days to touch the figure of 10 crore. Next 10 crore was achieved in 45 days and crossed the 20-crore mark. The country then took only 29 more days to reach 30 crore. In another 24 days, it reached 40 crore. The 50-crore mark was breached in 20 more days.

“In a significant achievement, India’s cumulative Covid-19 vaccination coverage has crossed the 50-crore landmark milestone (50,03,48,866),” the health ministry said. Over 11.1 crore, or 8.1%, of the population is now fully vaccinated.

According to the New York Times, more than 4.36 billion vaccine doses have been administered worldwide, equal to 57 doses for every 100 people.

China top the list in the number of doses administered

In terms of the number of doses given, China tops the list with 176 crore doses. The US is third, behind India, at 35 crore. Brazil and Japan occupy the fourth and fifth positions, respectively, with 14.9 crore and 9.97 crore doses, according to the Our World in Data project.

Worldwide, 440 crore doses have been given, and 119 crore people are fully vaccinated, representing 15.3% of the world population.

In terms of percentage of fully vaccinated population, India is far behind at 8.1%. The US has fully vaccinated more than half of its population (50.5%). The same for England is 58.6% and Germany 54.2%

Coming back to India, the health ministry said 22,93,781 beneficiaries in the age group of 18-44 years were administered the first dose, while 4,32,281 received the second dose of the vaccine on Friday.

Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh have administered more than one crore cumulative doses of the Covid vaccine in the 18-44 age group.

India’s fight against COVID-19 receives a strong impetus. Vaccination numbers cross the 50 crore mark. We hope to build on these numbers and ensure our citizens are vaccinated under #SabkoVaccineMuftVaccine movement,” Prime Minister Narandra Modi has tweeted.