India achieved a significant milestone in its fight against the global pandemic as it became the fastest country in the world to achieve 60 lakh Covid-19 vaccinations in 24 days. The USA took 26 days to reach this mark, whereas the UK achieved it in 46 days, the Union Health Ministry said.

 

Till Monday evening, 60,35,660 beneficiaries were vaccinated through 1,24,744 sessions. Of these, 54,12,270 are healthcare workers and 6,23,390 frontline workers whose vaccination started on February 2, Additional Secretary in the Health Ministry Manohar Agnani said.

Eleven states and Union Territories namely Bihar, Tripura, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Odisha, Mizoram, Uttar Pradesh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Kerala have vaccinated more than 65 per cent of the registered healthcare workers.

Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Punjab, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Chandigarh, Tamil Nadu, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, and Puducherry have reported less than 40 per cent coverage of vaccinating healthcare workers.

Ten states accounted for 75.12 per cent of the total beneficiaries vaccinated on Monday."Total 2,23,298 beneficiaries were vaccinated on the 24th day of nationwide Covid-19 vaccination till 6 pm," the ministry said.

Till 6 pm on Monday, 8,257 vaccination sessions were held. In total, 29 people have been hospitalized so far which comprise 0.0005 per cent of the total vaccinations.

Of these, 19 were discharged after treatment, one is under treatment, while nine people have died, the ministry said. In a span of 24 hours, one person suffered from bilateral facial palsy and has been hospitalized at the Kerala Institute of Medical Sciences in Thiruvananthapuram. His condition is stable.

Twenty-three deaths have been recorded till date which comprises 0.0004 per cent of the total vaccinations, the ministry said. Of these, nine people died in hospital while 14 deaths were recorded outside the hospital. 

"None of these deaths have been causally linked with Covid-19 vaccination. No case of serious/severe AEFI/Death is attributable to vaccination, till date," the ministry stated.

The total beneficiaries who have been vaccinated so far include 3,92,426 from Bihar, 2,95,965 from Kerala, 4,11,861 from Karnataka, 3,62,649 from Madhya Pradesh, 4,97,095 from Maharashtra, 1,13,138 from Delhi, 4,70,384 from Gujarat, 6,73,542 from Uttar Pradesh and 3,68,562 from West Bengal, according to the provisional report.