New Delhi: India crossed a major milestone on October 21 when the number of Covid-19 vaccine doses administered in the country crossed the 100 crore (1 billion) mark.
The number is twice the number of vaccines administered in the United States, five times that of Japan, nine times that of Germany, and 10 times the number of vaccine doses administered in France, the government said in a presentation hailing the ‘vaccine century’.
It took just nine months for the country to cross the historic figure. The government said that the first 10 crore (100 million) doses were administered in just 85 days of the launch of the vaccination drive.
The inoculation program has been speeding up since its launch, recording 25 million vaccinations in a day on September 17 (Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday), which translated to 15.62 lakh doses per hour, or 26,000 doses per minute or 434 doses every second.
It also said that this is the fastest vaccination drive ever, comparing the 1 billion milestone with polio and tuberculosis (TB) drives. While one billion doses of the Covid vaccine were administered in just nine months, it took 20 years for the polio drive (1994-2014) and 32 years for TB vaccination (1989 and still ongoing) to cross the milestone.
Only China has administered a billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines till now (and also has a population of more than one billion). It crossed the milestone in June.
