Amid significant drop in number of daily new COVID-19 cases, the new phase of vaccination drive kicked off with a record over 85 lakh jabs in a day. The close to 86 lakh vaccinations in a day is a new record India registered in its attempt to curb the pandemic since the beginning of the vaccination drive.

Contents hide
1. Background
2. Details
3. “Vaccine strongest weapon to fight COVID-19”: PM Modi
4. “Biggest beneficiary of new drive will be poor, youth & middle class”: PM Modi
5. The Numbers So Far
6. Serum Institute, Bharat Biotech Ramp Vaccine Manufacturing
7. States to administer 45 lakh+ jabs in the coming days

Background

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that after receiving feedback from states, the Centre would take the responsibility from the States in procurement of vaccines and will vaccinate everyone above the age of 18 for free in the govt vaccination centers.

Also Read: Revised Vaccine Prices: Centre announces Covishield at Rs 780, Covaxin at Rs 1410 for Private Hospitals

Details

After the few months of States procuring and distributing vaccinations to districts and cities, India returned to completely centralized vaccine procurement and distribution on June 22nd, marking the new phase of the vaccination drive. The vaccination drive against the deadly COVID-19 initiated on January 16, 2021. The record for most number of jabs given in a day was previously set on April 2 with 42,65,157 doses administered.

Also Read: COVID-19 Vaccine Guidelines: 12–16-week gap for Covishield; Recovered patients should wait 6 months

“Vaccine strongest weapon to fight COVID-19”: PM Modi

With over 80 lakh jabs registered on June 22nd, Prime Minister Modi took to Twitter and lauded the front-line warriors who have been working towards the drive. “Today’s record-breaking vaccination numbers are gladdening. The vaccine remains our strongest weapon to fight COVID-19. Congratulations to those who got vaccinated and kudos to all the front-line warriors working hard to ensure so many citizens got the vaccine. Well done India,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s tweet read.

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“Biggest beneficiary of new drive will be poor, youth & middle class”: PM Modi

On Monday morning, Prime Minister had tweeted regarding the new COVID-19 vaccination phase. In his tweet, PM Modi had shared a graphic in which “World’s Largest Free Vaccination Campaign” was written in bold. Beneath that, a quote from the Prime Minister was added which read – “Central Government is beginning the ‘Free Vaccination For All campaign’ for every Indian from today. The biggest beneficiary of this phase of India’s vaccination drive shall be the poor, the middle class and the youth of the country. All of us should pledge to get ourselves vaccinated. Together we will defeat COVID-19.”

Also Read: “Ensure five-fold strategy”: Centre Urges States, UTs Opening Up After COVID-19 Numbers Drop

The Numbers So Far

As per CoWIN data, a total of 85,96,807 doses of vaccinations were administered in India on June 22. While 78,09,771 doses were administered to beneficiaries, who were taking the first jab, 7,87,036 second dose jabs were administered on Monday. So far, 28,87,66,201 vaccine doses have been administered overall with 17.8% people receiving the first dose and 3.9% having received both doses.

Serum Institute, Bharat Biotech Ramp Vaccine Manufacturing

According to Indian Express, SII (Serum Institute of India) & Bharat Biotech – both vaccine giants that produce their own vaccines (Covishield & Covaxin respectively) – have ramped up their vaccine manufacturing capabilities. As per the report, vaccine availability would be as high as 12 crore doses by the end of this month. This is a significant increase from the availability of 7.5 crore doses in May. Further, by July, 13.5 crore vaccine doses will be made available by July.

States to administer 45 lakh+ jabs in the coming days

According to sources, vaccine supply will be increased by July and states will be expected to administer an average 45 lakh jabs per day.

“States have now established a baseline of around 45 lakh [vaccinations] a day on average. There would be days where they would do maybe 60-70 lakh. There is no reason not to, if vaccine availability does not fall — which we do not see happening,”

-an official said in a report.