Before rolling out the world's largest vaccination drive against Covid-19, India had set a target of administering 60 crore doses by the end of August this year. American Leftist news channel CNN has mocked the Modi government for setting such an ambitious target.
"That adds up to a total of 600 million shots, and Modi's government wants to complete the whole process by August. That's an incredibly ambitious undertaking, especially for a developing country with poor rural infrastructure and an inadequate public health system that is already buckling under tremendous pressure from the coronavirus," CNN has written.
By Monday (August 30) morning, India has already administered over 63 crore doses. By the end of this month, it'll be touching 65 crore doses, five crores more than the target it had set for herself. India's vaccination drive against Covid-19 was rolled out in January this year. Covishield, manufactured by Pune-based Serum Institute of India, was the first vaccine available for use. Indigenously developed Bharat Biotech's Covaxin is also being administered. Other vaccines developed in the country are also in the pipeline.
On Friday (August 27), India administered over one crore doses in a single day, achieving the milestone for the first time. Also, the country has given at least one dose to over 50 per cent of its eligible population. On November 28 last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the Zydus Cadila, Serum Institute and Bharat Biotech's plants to take stock of the situation.
The Union government also provided monetary help to the private companies for the capacity extension. The companies were also helped with the research work. The result is for all to see. India's vaccination drive has been a huge success.
