India Crosses 1 Billion Covid Vaccine Milestone

India reached one billion COVID-19 vaccinations milestone on Oct 21. The government is also aiming to get the country’s 944 million adults vaccinated this year. “Congratulations India! This is the result of the leadership of our visionary Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya tweeted.

The development comes nine months after the nationwide inoculation drive started on January 16, 2021. While citizens are celebrating the vaccination drive picking up pace, opposition parties have questioned the government over its promise to administer both the doses of the vaccine to the country’s entire adult population by December.

Congress spokesperson Gourav Vallabh said that India has 95 crore adults and it is yet to see how the government covers all of them in the 70 days left in this year. Parties questioned if India will achieve the year-end target of vaccinating all adult population against Covid-19 when only 31 per cent people have received both doses till now.

Of all the states, Uttar Pradesh has administered the most vaccine doses (above 12 crore), followed by Maharashtra and West Bengal with 9 and 6 crores respectively. The list continues – Gujarat, MP, Bihar, Karnataka, Rajasthan, TN, AP. These are the top ten states with highest vaccine coverage.

Meanwhile, Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya will release a song on the occasion, the country’s largest Khadi flag will be displayed at the historic Red Fort.