Vaccine hesitancy greatest threat in overcoming Covid: Adar Poonawalla

Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla on Wednesday termed vaccine hesitancy as the greatest threat in overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic while urging all adults to get vaccinated at the earliest.

He said that 200 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine were lying with the states and people should get themselves vaccinated as soon as possible.

"The vaccine industry has worked tirelessly to provide enough stocks for the nation. Today there are over 200 million doses available with states. I urge all adults to get vaccinated as soon as possible. Vaccine hesitancy is now the greatest threat in overcoming this pandemic," Poonawalla said in a tweet.

Earlier in the day Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya also appealed to all eligible citizens to get vaccinated.

The cumulative COVID-19 vaccines administered in the country has exceeded 113.68 crore mark. Of all the vaccine doses administered, around 90 per cent are Serum's Covishield and close to 10 per cent are Bharat Biotech's Covaxin.

The number of fully vaccinated individuals against COVID-19 has surpassed the partially vaccinated eligible population for the first time in India.

The country has in total administered over 113.68 crore doses, according to the provisional report at 7 am.

This has been achieved through 1,16,73,459 sessions. Out of which, 75,57,24,081 doses were administered as the first dose and 38,11,55,604 doses were administered as second dose. The number of fully vaccinated individuals (38,11,55,604) exceeds those who have been administered a single dose (37,45,68,477).