The health ministry is making plans to celebrate India administering 1 billion coronavirus disease (Covid-19) vaccine doses by early October. A milestone that is likely to coincide with Narendra Modi completing 20 years as the head of a government over his 13 years as Gujarat chief minister and his second term as Prime Minister. To mark the occasion include, among others, felicitating the 100 beneficiaries who took the shot.
Those who participated in clinical trials. “India conducts the largest vaccination drive in the world, and it will be a momentous occasion. When we complete administering one billion vaccine shots which are more than the population of some countries. Therefore, it is only fitting to celebrate the occasion as several agencies and people across the country have worked really hard to make this happen,” one of the officials in the ministry said.
As of now, India has administered 848 million covid-19 vaccine doses.
With over 7.4 million doses administered on Friday, a total of 848 million vaccine doses have been administered across India. According to health ministry data till Friday night. Of the roughly 940 million adults eligible for shots, nearly 67% (626.7 million people) have received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, and about 23.6% (221.5 million people) have got both jabs in the drive that started on January 16. At this rate, India appears set to touch the 1 billion dose mark in the second week of October.
Modi took over as Gujarat’s chief minister for the first time on October 7, 2001. “It is incidental that the PM will also be completing 20 years as the head of a government; even though the date for both the events may not exactly be the same. It is likely to be close but likely not on the same date. As per the trends, one billion jabs should complete around the second week of October,” added the second official quoted above.