India hits record number of daily vaccines

Indian states opened mass vaccination sites on Monday at school grounds, auditoriums and other facilities, as the government’s free Covid-19 inoculation drive expanded to anyone over the age of 18.

The country gave 7.5 million jabs in the course of the day, the highest rate so far, following a shift in policy that has streamlined the vaccination process.

India rolled out its inoculation programme in January but is far behind the target it set for itself of fully vaccinating at least 300 million people by mid-2021.

So far, less than 5 per cent of India’s 1.3-billion population have been fully vaccinated. Around 282 million have received at least one dose of the two vaccines that were approved for emergency use in January.

The government’s new policy, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this month, replaces a complex system in which the federal and state governments and the private sector bought vaccines at different prices and distributed them to different age groups. Experts argued this led to confusion and inequity.

The federal government will now buy 75 per cent of all vaccines, while 25 per cent are to be procured by private entities at a capped price.

A bulk of the vaccinations on Monday were administered to those in the 18-to-44 age group, a Health Ministry spokesman said.

Five states ruled by Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), including Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat, took the lead in organizing special drives and totted up about half of Monday’s tally.

But several states, specially those governed by parties other than the BJP, complained of limited supplies of the free vaccines.
-New Delhi (dpa), 
21 June, 2021