India touched the milestone of 100 crore vaccination

India achieved the landmark milestone of 100 crore vaccinations on 21 October 2021. It took 85 days to touch the 10-crore vaccination mark. The government rolled out the COVID-19 vaccination drive on 16 January 2021, with healthcare workers getting inoculated in the first phase. From 1 March people over 60 years of age and those aged 45 and above with co-morbid conditions were allowed to get vaccinated. The government expanded its vaccination drive by allowing all above 18 to be vaccinated from 1 May.

On the occasion, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his gratitude to doctors, nurses and all those who worked to achieve this feat. The Prime Minister said India's entire vaccination program is born in the womb of science, has grown on scientific grounds and has reached all the nooks and corners of India through scientific methods. It is a matter of pride for the nation that the entire vaccination program of India has been Science born, Science driven and Science-based. The challenge was also a need to scale up the production. After that, distribution to different states and timely delivery of vaccines to far-flung areas. But, with scientific methods and new innovations, the country has found solutions to these challenges. Resources were increased with extraordinary speed.

CoWIN played a huge role in enabling the 100-crore vaccination landmark. This digital platform assisted programme managers across national, state, and district levels while conducting vaccination sessions. It helped them track beneficiary coverage, beneficiary dropouts, sessions planned v/s sessions held and vaccine utilisation. The top five states which have administered the highest number of doses are Uttar Pradesh followed by Maharashtra, West Bengal, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.

The journey from anxiety in early 2020 to assurance has happened, and India has emerged stronger. It is a stupendous achievement for India to reach the 100 crore vaccination milestone in a record 275 days. Amidst numerous challenges related to supply, logistics and vaccine hesitancy, and a severe second wave this year, this landmark achievement is a salute to the focused, invaluable efforts of our entire health and frontline workforce who are spearheading the vaccination drive, along with many public and private partners and stakeholders, who have worked hard to spread awareness and vaccinate as many people as possible. Continuing to vaccinate, while following COVID-19 protocols, is the only way to beat the virus and prevent community transmission.