India Makes History By Completing One Billion Covid Vaccinations Milestone

On Thursday, India achieved a huge milestone on when the numbers of Covid-19 vaccination crossed the 100 crore (1 billion) mark in the country. This achievement was made by India around 10:30 am on Thursday and is being celebrated by everyone. Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the country on making history and he called it " the triumph of Indian science, enterprise and collective spirit of 130 crore Indians". He expressed his thanks to all the healthcare workers, nurses, and all those who worked to hard to make this possible. 

PM Modi also visited the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in Delhi after the announcement was made and he talked to the hospital officials there. The Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya accompanied him there. According to the government, around three-quarters of adults in the country of 1.3 billion people have had one shot and around 30 percent are fully vaccinated. Onlymyhealth editorial team spoke to Dr. Arunesh Kumar, Senior consultant and Head, Pulmonology, Paras Hospitals, Gurugram, about the vaccination jabs milestone achieved by the country. 

Dr. Arunesh Kumar said, "India has successfully crossed its 100 crores Covid-19 vaccination mark today and even with the current figures, no country other than China has achieved this milestone. With our country that faced difficulty in supplies, vaccine hesitancy in the early days, the 100-crore milestone is a huge achievement in itself. India has picked up pace regarding Covid vaccination in the last three months, but the path ahead to get the entire adult population fully vaccinated by the end of this year is still a difficult task. Around 90 crore doses need to be administered between now and December 31, almost as much as was administered in last 8 months which means the same amount in one-fourth of time". 

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The top five states that have recorded the highest number of Covid vaccination doses are Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. Dr VK Paul, the NITI Aayog Member for Health, congratulated the country, doctors and nurses of India on this milestone and said, "It's remarkable to reach the 1 billion dose mark for any nation, an achievement in just over 9 months since the vaccination program started in India."