Over 36 Lakh People Vaccinated, More Than 20 Lakh Sign Up for Covid Shots on April 1

As India began vaccinating those about 45 from April 1, the health ministry has said that 36,71,242 vaccinations were administered on Thursday. It said that a total of 6,87,89,138 people have been vaccinated till date.

Meanwhile, at least at least 20 lakh signed up for the vaccination on April 1.

This phase of vaccination was opened up for anyone above the age of 45. Till last month was it restricted to people over 60 and those above 45 with co-morbidities.

As vaccination began, long queues were seen at hospitals and dispensaries. A report by Hindustan Times said that as per an official from Delhi’s health department, the government plans to immunise everyone over the age of 45 years within the next 40 days.

He further revealed that training more vaccinators, keeping centres open for 12-hours and many other methods were being implemented to ensure that full vaccination is achieved within 40 days.

A similar plan of action was reported from Maharashtra as well where Dr Ramaswami N, commissioner, family welfare, and director, National Health Mission told Hindustan Times that the govt has targeted to take daily vaccination up to 4 lakh in next few days.

‘This is a race against time’ the National Health Authority CEO RS Sharma was quoted telling Economics Times while revealing the Centre’s plan to set a daily target of 5 million jobs in the third phase of the vaccination drive.

Among prominent people who took their first shot on Thursday were Union minister Piyush Goyal, Rajya Sabha MP Jyotiraditya Scindia, and Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy.

As per the health ministry’s Co-WIN app, 2.2 million people signed up between 9 am and 9 pm on Thursday and 2.1 million people received doses throughout the day. According to the latest government data, a total of 6,87,89,138 people have been administered the covid vaccine shots till 8 am on April 2.

The countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16 catering to the healthcare workers while the vaccination of frontline workers started on February 2. The next phase of the vaccination drive began on March 1 for those over 60 years of age and those aged 45 and above with specified co-morbid conditions.

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