India gives 25M vaccine doses on Modi’s birthday

A health worker administers the vaccine for COVID-19 during a special vaccination drive by the municipal corporation at a bus stand in Ahmedabad, India. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)

The Rising Nepal
18 Sep, 2021

NEW DELHI (AP)— India gave out 25 million doses during a special COVID-19 vaccination drive organized on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday.

The campaign took place Friday as Modi turned 71. The Health Ministry said Saturday the special drive had raised India’s overall vaccinations to more than 790 million.

Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya called the feat “ a golden chapter … written in the history of the country and the world.”

Only China has administered more. The Chinese government said this week it had given more than 2.16 billion shots and that 1 billion Chinese people were fully vaccinated.

India, a country of nearly 1.4 billion people, has given at least one dose to more than 62% of eligible adults and two doses to about 21 per cent. Health ministry officials say they plan to administer over a billion shots by mid-October.

India has reported more than 33 million coronavirus cases and 444,529 deaths. The country is recording over 30,000 new COVID-19 cases a day.