India is the fastest country globally to reach the landmark of administering 17 crore doses in 114 days, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said today, while urging states to first focus more on second dose vaccinations.
The minister interacted with state health ministers and principal secretaries/additional chief secretaries depicting a high growth rate in the number of daily cases, higher mortality, very high and growing positivity rate, according to the Health Ministry.
Mr Vardhan also urged states to ensure that the healthcare and frontline workers are fully vaccinated as they form the vulnerable categories.
"Vaccination is our big weapon in the fight against COVID-19," he said.
He added that India is the fastest country globally to reach the landmark of 17 crore doses in 114 days and thanked all the states and UTs for their contribution in achieving this feat.
He also pointed out that of this, while 13.66 crore people have been administered the first dose, the second dose has been administered to only to 3.86 crore, the ministry said.