India on Friday achieved an unprecedented milestone as it jabbed over 2 crore vaccines doses in a single day, the highest so far and shattering all previous records of single-day vaccinations.
The achievement came on the occasion of the 71st birthday of Prime Minister Modi. Just before midnight, September 17, India managed to jab 2.5 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccines, bettering the previous best of 1.41 crore vaccine doses in a single day, which was achieved on August 31.
This is the fourth time that India has crossed the mark of administering more than 1 crore vaccine doses in a single day, the first time being on August 27.
As of Friday evening, India had administered close to 79 crore doses of Covid-19 vaccines.
The first 1 crore mark was crossed in just 6 hours on September 17.
India breaks another record! 1 Crore vaccine doses administered in less than 6 hours.
— MyGovIndia (@mygovindia) September 17, 2021
Go get vaccinated now! Visit https://t.co/G4e2WXWB9X or https://t.co/97Wqddbz7k today! #LargestVaccineDrive #VaccineSeva pic.twitter.com/4Lt7idgQkH
BJP had trained over 8 lakh volunteers for ‘Vaccine Seva’
The BJP had sought to register record COVID-19 vaccinations on September 17 to mark the 71st birthday of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Besides, a 20-day mega event – “Seva and Samarpan Abhiyan” – has also been planned by the BJP, to mark PM Modi’s “20 years in public service”.
Ahead of PM Modi’s birthday, BJP had prepped its volunteers to ensure that the maximum number of people get their Covid-19 vaccines on September 17. The BJP had set the target of administering 2 crore vaccine doses on PM Modi’s birthday and had trained around 8 lakh volunteers for the same.
Leaders of the BJP urged healthcare officials and its volunteers to double the daily rate of vaccination. “Let’s do #VaccineSeva and give him (PM Modi) birthday gift by getting vaccinated those who have not taken the dose so far,” Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said yesterday, urging people to get the shots.
Senior leaders in the party had aimed to provide a unique gift to PM Modi on his birthday by registering a record number of single-day vaccinations in the nation’ history.
BJP General Secretary Tarun Chugh, who is in charge of the health volunteers initiative, said that party chief JP Nadda wanted to celebrate the birthday of the Prime Minister in a special way.
“What can be more special than protecting people for which the Prime Minister is working day and night. It is a matter of pride that we have two Covid vaccines in our name and we have been able to protect citizens from this deadly pandemic. It would be a befitting tribute to PM Modi who strived hard to ensure people remain protected from Covid,” TOI quoted Chugh as saying.
India embarked upon its phased COVID-19 vaccination programme on January 16, 2021. India has approved six Covid-19 vaccines so far, Covishield developed by Astra Zeneca and Oxford University, Covaxin developed by Bharat Biotech, Sputnik V developed in Russia, Spikevax developed by Moderna, the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, and ZyCoV-D developed by Zydus-Cadila.
However, the bulk of the vaccination programme in the country is dependent on Covishield and Covaxin, both made in India.
Note: This report has been updated with latest numbers
