India surpasses USA in number of people given 1st dose of Covid-19 vaccine

<p>
India has surpassed the United States in the number of people who have been administered the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, according to Dr VK Paul, the government’s top adviser on the coronavirus pandemic.</p>
<p>
"As per the data, the number of people who have received at least one dose of vaccine in India is 17.2 crore. We have overtaken the US in terms of the number of people in our country who have received the first dose of vaccine," Paul said on Friday.</p>
<p>
<strong>Also read:</strong>  <a href="https://www.indianarrative.com/health-news/serum-institute-of-india-gets-preliminary-nod-to-make-russia-s-sputnik-v-covid-vaccine-93078.html">Serum Institute of India gets preliminary nod to make Russia’s Sputnik V Covid vaccine</a></p>
<p>
However, since India has a much larger population, in percentage terms this works out to 12.6% of the total population while the US has inoculated over 50% of its citizens. </p>
<p>
Blaming the nationwide complacent attitude towards the pandemic for the second wave, Dr Paul emphasised that India needs more time to achieve high coverage of vaccination.</p>
<p>
"When the peak is declining and we suddenly get into the same behaviour as a society like in January and February, the virus will come back again in a certain way. We have to buy time to ensure that we achieve high coverage of our vaccination," he explained.</p>
<p>
<strong>Also read:</strong>  <a href="https://www.indianarrative.com/health-news/indians-aged-above-years-have-taken-vaccine-shots-against-covid-so-far-92490.html">37% Indians aged above 45 years have taken vaccine shots against Covid-19 so far</a></p>
<p>
Union Health Ministry's Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal commented that the number of active cases has dropped while recovery rate has improved. "There has been a continuous decrease in districts reporting more than 100 average daily new cases; 257 districts report more than 100 daily cases."</p>
<p>
The ministry also stated that 377 districts have been reporting less than 5 per cent case positivity currently.</p>
<p>
Meanwhile, recovery rate has been consistently improving, currently standing at 93.1 per cent, Agarwal added.</p>
<p>
India’s daily count of new COVD-19 cases declined to 1,32,364 on Friday from 1,34,154 cases on Thursday. The country’s active caseload fell further by 77,420 to 16,35,993 in the last 24 hours.</p>