India fastest country to reach 5 mn Covid vaccinations mark: Health min

India has become thefirstcountry in the world to reach the5 million COVID-19 vaccinationmark in just21 days, the Union Health Ministry said asnearly 53 lakh beneficiaries have been administered shotsunder the countrywide inoculation exercise till Friday evening.

The USA, the UK and Israel have reached 5 million vaccinations in 24, 43 and 45 simultaneous days respectively.

"The countrywide COVID-19 vaccination program was conducted successfully on the twenty-first day as well," the ministry said.

The cumulative number of healthcare workers vaccinated against COVID-19 is nearly 53 lakhs.

A total of 52,90,474 beneficiaries were vaccinated through 1,04,781 sessions, as per the provisional report comprising data collected till Friday 6 pm.

As many as "3,31,029 beneficiaries have been vaccinated till 6 pm on the 21st day of the vaccination drive,"the ministry said, adding, thefinal reportwould be completed bylatein the night.

The final report would be completed for the day by late Friday night, the ministry said.

One of the highlights of the vaccination process is a link for downloading the certificate which is also a part of the confirmatory SMS sent to the beneficiary post vaccination.

The Certificate can also be downloaded by the Vaccinator and District Immunization Officer and handed over to the beneficiary, the ministry said.

Total 27 persons have been hospitalized so far which translates to 0.0005 per centof the total vaccinations done so far. No new hospitalization has been recorded in the last 24 hours, the ministry said.

The ministry further said total 22 deaths have been recorded till date andnone of these deaths have been causally linked with COVID-19 vaccination.

"One new death was reported in the past 24 hours, of a 77-year-old male in Agra, seven days after vaccination. It was a case of shock with pre-existing diabetes. None of these deaths have been causally linked with COVID-19 vaccination," the ministry said.

Total3,31,029beneficiaries who have beenvaccinatedon Friday 6 pm include 29,229fromBihar, 12,992fromKerala,23,291fromKarnataka,1,104fromMadhya Pradesh,35,172 from Maharashtra, 6,258from Tamil Nadu,8,038 fromDelhi, 27,862 fromGujarat, 53,959from Uttar Pradeshand17,329 fromWest Bengal, according to the provisional report.