India breaks own COVID vaccination record

 NEW DELHI, Sept 17 (Reuters) -  India broke its daily COVID-19 vaccination record on Friday by administering over 20 million doses of vaccines in a single day as states organised a special inoculation drive on the occasion of prime minister Narendra Modi’s birthday.

The health minister called it a gift for Modi, who turned 71 as vaccination breached the previous peak of 14.1 million on Aug. 31.

Immunisations have surged in the past few weeks, thanks mainly to a rapid rise in production of the AstraZeneca shot by the Serum Institute of India. The company would supply 200 million doses to the country’s immunisation programme this month, compared with around 150 million in the previous month, said a ministry source, who declined to be named.

In addition, Bharat Biotech will supply 35 million doses of Covaxin this month, while Cadila Healthcare Ltd will join the inoculation drive next month by selling 10 million doses of its COVID-19 DNA vaccine.