Matter of pride for the Indian health system, says NK Arora on crossing 1 cr COVID vaccination mark in a day

By Shalini Bhardwaj
New Delhi [India], August 28 (ANI): As India crossed the one crore vaccination mark in a single day on Friday, Dr NK Arora, Chairperson, National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation in India (NTAGI) working group for COVID vaccination said that the achievement of administering one crore doses of COVID-19 vaccines in a single day is a matter of pride for the Indian health system and it will go down in the history of COVID-19 immunisation.
Dr Arora also said that the country hopes to achieve the benchmark of 1.25 crore doses in a single day soon and will be able to immunise most of the beneficiaries aged above 18 years by the end of this year.
India on Friday crossed the crore vaccination mark in a single day which is the highest ever daily vaccination figure. The figure stood at 1,00,64,032 doses till 10 pm.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called it a 'momentous feat', while Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya took to Twitter to thank the Prime Minister and the healthcare workers.
Dr NK Arora while speaking to ANI said: "Almost four months ago, we knew that India has the capacity to deliver anywhere between 10 and 12 million doses in a single day. And today we have achieved that milestone, I think this will go down in the history of COVID immunization that even with 63,000 immunisation centres, we are able to deliver one crore plus doses in a single day."
"There are a large number of countries in this world, which have population less than 10 million, for example, Switzerland, a lot of Scandinavian countries. We have the capacity to immunise a whole country in a day," he said.
The NTAGI chief also congratulated the frontline workers, vaccinators, nurses, doctors and healthcare providers across the country. "My compliments to all the frontline workers, vaccinators, nurses, doctors, and healthcare providers across the country, including the private sector for achieving this milestone."
"I would say, a very desirable milestone has been achieved, and made the nation proud," he said.
"I am sure in the coming days and weeks, we will scale up even higher milestones, and be able to deliver so that the country is able to immunise most of the adults over the age of 18 years by the end of this year."
"Today, we have achieved a benchmark of more than one crore doses in a single day, I think we will be able to achieve the benchmark of 1.25 crore doses delivered in a single day. As the vaccine availability increases we should be able to achieve that daily rate," he added.
"Vaccine protects us from severity and hospitalisation. If we will be vaccinated then people around us will also be safe. It is important to vaccinate maximum people to avoid another wave and mutation of the virus. It is also important to wear mask till the time 90 per cent of the population gets vaccinated," Dr Sameer Bhati, a public health expert said.