Due to ‘vaccine for all, free vaccine’ campaign, in 24 days coverage touched 30-40 cr: Mandaviya

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Monday said it took 85 days to inoculate 10 crore people against COVID-19, while due to the “vaccine for all, free vaccine” campaign, it took only 24 days to reach 30 to 40 crore vaccination coverage.

The new phase of universalisation of COVID-19 vaccination started on June 21.

The inoculation drive has been ramped up through the availability of more vaccines, advance vaccine availability to states and union territories (UTs) for better planning by them and streamlining the supply chain, according to the Union health ministry.

In the new phase, the Centre procures and supplies at no cost 75 per cent of the vaccines being produced in the country to states and UTs.

India’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage has exceeded 40.64 crore, according to health ministry data updated on Monday morning.

“The world’s largest and fastest vaccination campaign under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is continuously creating new dimensions,” Mandaviya said in a tweet in Hindi.

“In the initial days, it took 85 days to vaccinate 10 crore, while due to the ‘vaccine for all, free vaccine’ campaign, it took India only 24 days to touch the figure of 30 crore to 40 crore,” he tweeted.

The ministry said 40,64,81,493 vaccine doses have been administered through 50,69,232 sessions, according to the provisional report till 7 am on Monday.

It said that 13,63,123 vaccine doses were administered in a span of 24 hours.

Out of the people infected since the beginning of the pandemic, 3,03,08,456 people have already recovered from COVID-19 and 38,660 patients have recovered in a span of 24 hours.

This constitutes an overall recovery rate of 97.32 per cent, which is showing a sustained increasing trend.