India sets new record, 2.25 crore vaccinated on PM Modi's birthday

New Delhi, Sep 17: India saw record-breaking pace of vaccination today as the country crossed two crore Covid vaccinations for the first time on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's birthday. India has administered over 2.25 crore daily vaccinations till 9.30 pm today.

India has also crossed Europe when it comes to total vaccine doses administered. While total vaccine doses in India stand at 784 million, for Europe the figure is 777 million.

"Every Indian would be proud of today's record vaccination numbers.I acknowledge our doctors, innovators, administrators, nurses, healthcare and all front-line workers who have toiled to make the vaccination drive a success. Let us keep boosting vaccination to defeat COVID-19," tweeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"A gift to the Prime Minister on behalf of the health workers and the countrymen.Today, on the birthday of @NarendraModi, India has crossed the historical figure of 2 crore vaccines in a day, setting a new record. Well done India!" Mansukh Mandaviya said in a tweet in Hindi on Friday.

This figure is a reflection of New India under PM @narendramodi's leadership, tweeted BJP President JP Nadda.

The daily COVID-19 vaccination in the country was over 1 crore on September 6, August 31 and August 27.

Mandaviya on Thursday had called for a major push to the COVID-19 vaccination drive during Prime Minister Modi''s birthday on Friday, saying it would be the perfect gift for him.

The BJP has asked its units across the country to help get a large number of people vaccinated on the occasion.

India took 85 days to touch the 10-crore vaccination mark, 45 more days to cross the 20-crore mark and 29 more days to reach the 30-crore mark, according to the ministry.

The country took 24 days to reach 40 crore from 30 crore doses and then 20 more days to cross the 50-crore vaccination mark on August 6, it said.

It took 19 more days to go past the 60-crore mark and took only 13 days to reach 70 crore from 60 crore on September 7, the ministry said.

The total number of doses administered crossed the 75-crore mark on September 13.

The countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16 with healthcare workers (HCWs) getting inoculated in the first phase. The vaccination of frontline workers (FLWs) started from February 2.

The next phase of COVID-19 vaccination commenced from March 1 for people over 60 years of age and those aged 45 and above with specified co-morbid conditions.

The country launched vaccination for all people aged more than 45 years from April 1.

The government then decided to expand its vaccination drive by allowing everyone above 18 to be vaccinated from May 1.