COVID-19: India completes 50 lakhs vaccinations in 21 days

With the vaccination of 3,31,029 beneficiaries on Friday, India has completed 50 lakhs (5 million) COVID-19 vaccinations in 21 days and has become the fastest country to do so, said Union Health Ministry.

Addressing a press conference here, Manohar Agn, Additional Secretary, Union Health Ministry said, "A total of 3,31,029 beneficiaries were vaccinated today. As of February 5, 2021, by 6 pm, a total of 52,90,474 beneficiaries have been vaccinated for COVID-19 and for which a total of 1,04,781 sessions have been held."

"We completed 50 lakhs vaccinations in 21 days. In the US it took 24 days, 43 days in the UK and 45 days in Israel. Hence, India is the fastest to reach 5 million vaccinations in the world," he added.

Commenting upon the adverse event following immunisation (AEFI), Agn said, "A total of 27 hospitalisation till date has been reported, no new case of hospitalisation was recorded in 24 hours. With one death in the last 24 hours, the total death reported till date is 22. None of these deaths has been casually linked to COVID-19 vaccination. No case of serious/severe AEFI/Death attributable to vaccination till date."

The COVID-19 vaccination has been rolled out in the country from January 16, 2021, in a phased manner starting with prioritised groups of Health Care Workers (HCWs) and frontline workers. The roll-out of COVID-19 vaccine is being done simultaneously across all States and UTs.

( With inputs from ANI )