India has achieved yet another milestone in its nationwide COVID-19 vaccination programme. India has become the fastest country in the world to vaccinate over 70 lakh (70,17,114) beneficiaries on Thursday. India achieved this feat in merely 26 days whereas it took 27 days for the US and 48 days for the UK to reach these figures.
The total cumulative immunisation coverage of 70,17,114 comprises 57,05,228 healthcare workers and 13,11,886 frontline workers in around 1,43,056 sessions conducted so far. As of February 10, 4, 05,349 beneficiaries including 94,890 healthcare workers and 3,10,459 frontline workers were vaccinated across 8,308 sessions.
According to the Union Health Ministry, 13 states and union territories-Rajasthan, Bihar, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram, Kerala, Odisha, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Tripura, and Lakshadweep have vaccinated more than 65 per cent of the registered healthcare workers. Of the 13 states that have reported massive vaccinations, Bihar vaccinated more than 79 per cent (79.4 per cent) of the registered HCWs.
On the other hand, states like Puducherry, Nagaland, Manipur, Tamil Nadu, Chandigarh, Meghalaya, and Punjab have reported vaccinations of less than 40 per cent registered healthcare workers. Of these states, Puducherry has reported the lowest performance at 17.5 per cent.
Meanwhile, India has assured to help Canada with COVID-19 jabs under its Vaccine Maitri initiative. Justin Trudeau apprised Prime Minister Modi of Canada's coronavirus vaccine requirements from India and also acknowledged India's role as the pharmacy of the world. PM Modi assured the Canadian Prime Minister that India would do its best to support their vaccination efforts just like it has done for countries like South Africa, Brazil, Kuwait, Seychelles and Muscat.
"Was happy to receive a call from my friend Justin Trudeau. Assured him that India would do its best to facilitate supplies of COVID vaccines sought by Canada. We also agreed to continue collaborating on other important issues like Climate Change and the global economic recovery," Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted Wednesday night.