In a landmark achievement, nearly 81 lakh (80,95,314) doses of COVID-19 vaccines were administered on the first day of the new phase of COVID-19 Vaccination on June 21, according to the Union Health Ministry.
"The Union Government is committed to accelerating the pace and expanding scope of the nationwide COVID19 vaccination drive. The vaccination drive has been ramped up through availability of more vaccines, advance visibility of vaccine availability to States and UTs for enabling better planning by them, and streamlining the vaccine supply chain. During the month of May 2021, more than 7.9 cr vaccines were available for the nationwide COVID19 Vaccination exercise. These were ramped up to 11.78 cr in June 2021. These include the free supply of vaccines to States and UTs from Government of India, those directly procured by the States/UTs and those directly procured by the private hospitals", the Ministry said in a release.
According to the release, Madhya Pradesh vaccinated 15,42,632 beneficiaries, Uttar Pradesh 6,74,546 doses, Karnataka 10,67,734 doses, while Maharashtra vaccinated 3,78,945 beneficiaries.
Earlier today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to Twitter to share the record-breaking vaccination numbers and thanked front-line workers on June 21 after the country successfully administered lakhs of vaccine country-wide. He wrote: "Today’s record-breaking vaccination numbers are gladdening. The vaccine remains our strongest weapon to fight COVID-19".
As per the new rules, all citizens, irrespective of their income status, are entitled to free vaccination. Those who have the ability to pay are encouraged to use private hospital’s vaccination centres, the government has said.
As per the new guidelines, no pre-registration is required on CoWin and beneficiaries can get registered on spot at the vaccination centre and get their jab.
