More than 82 lakh COVID-19 vaccine doses were administered on Monday, the highest-ever in a single day since the inoculation drive began in India. A total of 82,70,212 doses were administered, including first and second shots, till 9 p.m.
According to the Union Health Ministry, the sharp spike was due to the “new phase of universalisation of COVID-19 vaccination which commenced from Monday”.
As per the revised guidelines, the Centre will buy 75% of doses from vaccine makers and give it to the State governments for free to inoculate all adults. Earlier free doses were provided by the Centre only to vaccinate the elderly and the frontline workers.
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The revision in the vaccination policy came after the number of doses administered daily started to decline in May. Between May 11 and 20, only 15.7 lakh doses were administered on an average daily. The daily rate reduced due to a shortage of vaccines as most major States used 90% of all doses supplied to them.
The daily rate of vaccination improved to 34 lakh doses between June 11 and June 20. However, if India is aiming to fully vaccinate all adults by 2021, 82.1 lakh daily doses are needed daily.
Around 24.9% of adults in India, 44.7% of people above 45, and 47.8% of those above 60, have been administered at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, until 8 p.m. on Monday. While 17.1% of the country’s population has received at least one dose, only 3.7% are fully vaccinated. The figures are based on the estimated population in 2021.
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Daily cases dip
India recorded 41,207 new COVID-19 cases and 1,126 new deaths till 9.30 p.m. on Monday. The country has so far reported a total of 2,99,75,590 cases and 3,89,291 deaths.
Kerala reported 7,449 new infections, followed by Tamil Nadu (7,427) and Maharashtra (6,270). Maharashtra recorded 352 new fatalities, followed by Tamil Nadu (189) and Karnataka (142). Maharashtra’s fatalities include backlog deaths which were missed in the previous reports.