India on Wednesday crossed the 20 crores mark of cumulative covid-19 vaccination coverage. With this India becomes the second country after the USA to achieve this coverage in just 130 days. The USA took 124 days to reach the 20 crores mark, the union health ministry said.
Other leading countries in covid-19 vaccination drive include the UK which has reached 5.1 crore mark in 168 days, Brazil that reached 5.9 crore mark in 128 days, and Germany which reached 4.5 crore mark in 149 days.
As per the latest available data with the Union Health Ministry, over 34% population above 45 years has received at least 1st dose of covid-19 vaccine in India till date. Similarly, over 42% of 60+ years of population in India has received at least 1st dose of covid-19 vaccine.
As of date, India is using three vaccines against covid-19 in its immunization drive; these include two made in India vaccines - Serum Institute of India’s Covishield and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin. The Russian Sputnik V is the third vaccine to get approval from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) for Emergency Use Authorisation and is being used in few private hospitals which are expected to be increased over the coming days.