India fastest country to reach five million COVID-19 vaccination mark
What's the story
India has become the fastest country in the world to reach the five million COVID-19 vaccination mark, reaching the milestone in just 21 days, the Union Health Ministry said as nearly 53 lakh beneficiaries were administered shots under the countrywide inoculation exercise till Friday evening.
The USA, the UK, and Israel completed five million vaccinations in 24, 43, and 45 simultaneous days respectively.
Vaccination drive
Nearly 53 lakh beneficiaries were vaccinated through 1,04,781 sessions
A total of 52,90,474 beneficiaries were vaccinated through 1,04,781 sessions, as per the provisional report comprising data collected till Friday 6 pm.
"As many as 3,31,029 beneficiaries have been vaccinated till 6 pm on the 21st day of the vaccination drive," the ministry said, adding, the final report would be completed by late in the night.
Process
Beneficiaries can download their vaccination certificates online
One of the highlights of the vaccination process is a link for downloading the certificate which is also a part of the confirmatory SMS sent to the beneficiary post-vaccination.
"The certificate can also be downloaded by the vaccinator and District Immunization Officer and handed over to the beneficiary," the ministry said.
Issues
Vaccination beneficiaries below target due to vaccine hesitancy: Government
However, the government informed Parliament on Friday that fewer than planned beneficiaries attended the vaccination sessions initially due to transient technical issues in CoWIN portal and vaccination hesitancy.
"Total 27 persons have been hospitalized so far which translates to 0.0005 percent of the total vaccinations done so far. No new hospitalization has been recorded in the last 24 hours," the ministry further informed.
Casualty
Government says death of beneficiaries not linked to COVID-19 vaccination
The ministry further said a total of 22 deaths have been recorded to date and none of these deaths have been causally linked with COVID-19 vaccination.
"One new death was reported in the past 24 hours, seven days after vaccination. It was a case of shock with pre-existing diabetes. None of these deaths have been causally linked with COVID-19 vaccination," the ministry said.
Information
Vaccination drive needs to be a priority despite declining cases
Responding to a question on the government's urgency to go ahead with the vaccination when the cases are declining, Minister of State for Health Ashwini Choubey said a second or third peak was experienced in other countries during the later part of the pandemic.
Details
Who should avoid the vaccines?
As per the fact sheet released by Bharat Biotech, one should not get Covaxin if he/she has any allergies, fever, bleeding disorder or is on a blood thinner, is immunocompromised, or on medicines that affect the immune system.
"Further, pregnant and breastfeeding women and those who received another coronavirus vaccine or have any serious health-related issues should avoid COVAXIN," Choubey said.
Quote
Covishield's fact sheet stresses on allergic reactions
"As per the fact sheet of Serum Institute, one should not get Covishield if a person had a severe allergic reaction after a previous dose of this vaccine and had a severe allergic reaction to any ingredient of this vaccine," he said.
Details
Only those vaccines approved by DCGI are being administered
Vaccines that have been granted permission for restricted use in an emergency situation by the Drugs Controller General of India are being used for the vaccination drive.
As per New Drugs and Clinical Trials Rules, 2019, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation has granted permission to manufacture two vaccines based on the prescribed procedure and due evaluation of pre-clinical and clinical trial data.