COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker: 24.3 lakh doses administered in India on May 24

A man wearing a face shield receives a dose of Covishield, a COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by Serum Institute of India, at a vaccination centre in Mumbai. (Image: Reuters)

More than 24.3 lakh COVID-19 vaccine doses were administered in India on May 24, the Union Health Ministry's latest provisional report suggested. With that, the cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country reached 19.85 crore.

On the 129th day of the vaccination drive (May 24), 22.51 lakh beneficiaries received their first shot and 1.78 lakh people were given their second dose.

The government has revised the gap between the two doses for the Oxford-AstraZeneca's Covishield, being manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, to 12-16 weeks. However, the interval for the second dose of Bharat Biotech's Covaxin remains unchanged.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the nationwide vaccination drive on January 16, with healthcare workers at the frontline of India's COVID-19 battle getting their first jabs. The country began the second phase of the vaccination drive from March 1 in which everyone above 60 years of age and those over 45 years with comorbidities could start getting the vaccine.

From April 1, vaccination was opened for everyone above the age of 45 with or without comorbidities.

India rolled out the third phase of its COVID-19 vaccination drive for those in the 18-44 age group on May 1. The central government has liberalised the vaccination drive to allow states, private hospitals and industrial establishments to procure the doses directly from manufacturers.

Registration on CoWIN platform for the third phase began on April 28 and is mandatory for the 18-44 age group.

> Over five lakh doses of COVID-19 vaccines, including the second dose, have been administered to people in Uttar Pradesh's Gautam Buddh Nagar as on May 25, according to official figures. Of the total 5.05 lakh vaccines administered so far in Noida and Greater Noida, 4.08 lakh people got their first shot and 97,268 got the second dose, showed the figures provided by the district administration.

> After Moderna, Pfizer too has refused to supply coronavirus vaccines directly to the Punjab government, saying it only deals with the Centre. Earlier, state officials had said US-based vaccine manufacturer Moderna had refused to send vaccines directly to Punjab, citing the company policy that it deals with the Government of India, not with any private party and state.

> Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that the US pharmaceutical giants Pfizer and Moderna have declined to sell coronavirus vaccines to the government of the National Capital Territory as they will directly deal with the Centre.

> The Centre has asked states to ensure that there is no discrimination against transgender persons at COVID-19 vaccination centres.

> The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and Indian drug firm Panacea Biotec announced the launch of production of the Sputnik V vaccine in India. The first batch of the COVID-19 vaccine produced at Panacea Biotec's facilities at Baddi in Himachal Pradesh will be shipped to the Russia's Gamaleya Center for quality control.

> Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren said that the state was facing a severe shortage of COVID-19 vaccines and has barely two-three days of shots left in its stock for the 18-44 age group.

> The Madras High Court said that there was "resistance" in accepting COVID-19 vaccination in certain sections of society and called for awareness campaigns to educate the people. Superstitions and archaic beliefs practiced in some communities stand in the way of scientific measures being implemented "and there continues to be a resistance to accepting vaccination in certain sections of the society," the court said.