India's Covid-19 vaccination coverage crosses 50-crore mark in 203 days

India's Covid-19 vaccination coverage crossed the 50 crore landmark on Friday, 203 days after it launched the immunisation drive against the infectious disease.

“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 Sabko Vaccine Muft Vaccine movement,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said.

As per the provisional report at 7:00 pm, the cumulative Covid vaccination coverage stood at 50,03,48,866 with 43.29 vaccine doses administered on Friday.

India had launched the vaccination drive against Covid-19 on January 16 and it picked up momentum after the new phase of universal free vaccination began on June 21.

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Five states — Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh have administered more than one crore cumulative doses of Covid-19 vaccine in the 18-44 years age group, the health ministry said.

Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Haryana, Jharkhand, Kerala, Telangana, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, Punjab, Uttarakhand and West Bengal have vaccinated more than 10 lakh beneficiaries of the 18-44 years age group for the first dose of the vaccine.

Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said India had taken 85 days to cross the 10 crore mark of cumulative vaccination, while it took 45 days to reach the 20 crore mark.

He said the 30-crore mark was achieved in the next 29 days, while the 40-crore milestone was reached within 24 days. The journey from 40 crore to 50 crore has taken 20 days, the minister said.

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Currently, three vaccines – Serum Institute's Covishield, Bharat Biotech's homegrown Covaxin and Russia-made Sputnik V are being administered across the country.

Between January 16 and August 5, Serum Institute had supplied 44.42 crore doses of its Covishield vaccine, while Bharat Biotech had delivered 6.82 crore doses of Covaxin for the national immunisation drive.

The two vaccine makers are ramping up manufacturing capabilities to further speed up the vaccination drive.

Serum Institute has assured to increase the production capacity of Covishield from 11 crore doses per month to 12 crore doses per month, while Bharat Biotech plans to produce 5.8 crore doses of Covaxin per month from its current capacity of 2.5 crore doses.