India fastest globally to administer 17 cr COVID-19 vaccine doses: Health Ministry

New Delhi: India is the fastest country globally to administer 17 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said here on Monday.

India took 114 days to achieve this vaccination coverage.

China took 119 days and the US took 115 days for reaching the same landmark, the Ministry said.

The cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country has crossed the landmark of 17 crore as the phase-3 of the nationwide vaccination drive expands further.

A total of 17,01,76,603 vaccine doses have been administered through 24,70,799 sessions, as per the provisional report till 0700 hrs this morning.

These include 95,47,102 Health Care Workers (HCWs) who have taken the 1st dose and 64,71,385 HCWs who have taken the 2nd dose, 1,39,72,612 Front Line Workers (FLWs) (1st dose), 77,55,283 FLWs (2nd dose), 20,31,854 beneficiaries under 18-45 age group (1st dose), 5,51,79,217 (1st dose) and 65,61,851 (2nd dose) beneficiaries aged 45 to 60 years. 5,36,74,082 1st dose beneficiaries and 1,49,83,217 2nd dose beneficiaries of more than 60 years old.

Ten states account for 66.79 per cent of the cumulative doses given so far in the country.

2,46,269 beneficiaries of the age group 18-44 years received their first dose of COVID vaccine today and cumulatively 20,31,854 across 30 states and Union Territories (UTs) during the last 24 hours.

“More than 6.8 lakh vaccination doses were administered in the last 24 hours,” the Ministry said.

As on Day-114 of the vaccination drive (May 9), 6,89,652 vaccine doses were given. Across 5,685 sessions, 4,05,325 beneficiaries were vaccinated for 1st dose and 2,84,327 beneficiaries received their 2nd dose of vaccine. (UNI)