India on Friday administered 10 million shots against coronavirus to log its highest single-day tally ever since rolling out the health drive in January. The feat drew applause and took to 620 million Covid-19 jabs given out so far in the world’s second worst-affected country.
The federal health ministry said a total of 10,064,376 jabs were given at 37,423 vaccination sites Friday, the highest number since 21 June when Indian states delivered more than 8.6 million Covid-19 shots on World Yoga Day.
But the figures petered the following weeks, falling almost by half on certain days largely due to shortages, distribution glitches and hesitancy.
Health experts said “vaccine eagerness” seemed to have overtaken hesitancy which posed a hurdle to the target of vaccinating 944 million adult Indians by the year-end.
#IndiaFightsCorona
— #IndiaFightsCorona (@COVIDNewsByMIB) August 28, 2021
World's #LargestVaccinationDrive smashing records!
India achieves the grand feat of administering more than ONE CRORE vaccination doses in a single day
Safai Bhi, Dawai Bhi, Kadai Bhi,
Jeetenge Corona se Ladai Bhi#We4Vaccine pic.twitter.com/zsL02yxYER
“Now, a lot more enthusiastic people are trying to coming forward otherwise how else will one give 10 million vaccine shots” in a day, commented Indian Medical Association general secretary Naresh Chawla.
On Saturday, the privately-run Jaypee Hospital on Delhi’s outskirts was packed with weekend vaccine-seekers willing to pay 780 rupees (9 euros) upfront for a shot.
Hesitancy disappearing
“We have been working for months but the crowds have only recently started to come in...There is an eagerness for the vaccine,” a nurse told RFI as she busily jabbed one after the other.
“In days to come the hesitancy will almost disappear,” predicted Chawla of the national doctors’ union.
India reported 6.9 million jabs on an average every day during the past week, the highest pace of the mass drive in seven months.
The government’s chief vaccination strategist N.K. Arora said he was hopeful the country would soon deliver 12.5 million shots a day.
India needs to give out over nine million jabs a day to meet its target.
So far, it has given one dose to half the adults while 15 percent have received the two prescribed shots.
Praise pours in
Friday’s record drew all-round praise with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi who called the milestone a "momentous feat."
“Kudos to those getting vaccinated and those making the vaccination drive a success," Modi said.
Microsoft co-founder turned philanthropist Bill Gates also applauded India’s medical community for Friday’s record, hailing the effort as a “tremendous milestone."
"The collective efforts of the government, research and development community, vaccine manufacturers, and millions of health workers have made this feat possible." he said.
WHO Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan weighed in.
“Vaccination along with public health and individual preventive measures will protect everyone," she added.
Spread of the virus
The spread of the pandemic has been steady and deadly, mainly because of three of India’s 28 states which have accounted for the highest number of cases so far.
India’s infection tally touched two million on 7 August 2020, jumped by another million in just about two weeks and swept past the unwelcome milestone of 10 million on 19 December.
A tragic summer surge, which killed 180,000 people, pushed up infections by 10 million in a month to 30 million by June third week, according to one count.
After a dip in the number of infections in recent weeks, cases are on the rise again amid projections of a third wave this fall.
On Friday, India posted 44,658 new infections, taking the tally so far to 32.6 million and 436,861 coronavirus linked deaths.
Earlier this month, India gave emergency approval to the world’s first DNA vaccine for adolescents which will be launched later this year.
