COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker News: Nearly 3 lakh beneficiaries receive coronavirus vaccine in India on January 27

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A total of 23,28,779 beneficiaries have so far been vaccinated for COVID-19 through 41,599 sessions held till the evening of January 27, the twelfth day of the immunisation drive, according to a provisional report of the Union Health Ministry.

On January 27, 2,99,299 beneficiaries were vaccinated till 7.00 pm through 5,308 vaccination sessions, the ministry said.

The ministry said 79 percent of beneficiaries vaccinated on Wednesday are from five states -- Karnataka, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

Till date, there have been a total of 16 hospitalizations, which is0.0007 percent of the total people vaccinated so far, additional secretary in the Union Health Ministry Dr Manohar Agnani said.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the vaccination drive with healthcare workers at the frontline of India's COVID-19 battle getting their first jabs on January 16.

India’s drug regulator has approved two vaccines - Covaxin developed by Bharat Biotech and Covishield from the Oxford/AstraZeneca stable being manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII) - for emergency use in the country.

According to the government, the shots will be offered first to an estimated one crore healthcare workers and around two crore frontline workers, and then to persons above 50 years of age, followed by persons younger than 50 years of age with associated comorbidities.

Here are all developments related to the COVID-19 vaccine in India:

> As many as 5,179 of the targeted 7,700 healthcare workers were administered COVID-19 vaccine shots at 11 centres in Mumbai on January 27, the city civic body said. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) official said out of 7,700 targeted healthcare workers selected for vaccination, only 68 percent (5,179) were inoculated.

> Over 6,500 healthcare workers received COVID-19 vaccine shots in Delhi on the day in the second week of the vaccination drive, as the city recorded a turnout of 80 percent. After a sluggish start, since the exercise was kicked off January 16, the inoculation drive has picked up pace in the last several days.

> Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has said that more COVID-19 vaccines are on their way to be introduced in India after the country launched the world's biggest vaccination drive with two made-in-India shots earlier this month.

> As many as 47,470 health workers or 77 percent of the targeted workers for the day were administered COVID-19 vaccine doses across 528 centres in Maharashtra on the day, a senior official said.

> As many as 83,645 health workers have so far been administered the Covishield vaccine, including 11,115 on the day, Health Minister KK Shailaja said.

> South African Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize has said thet a million coronavirus vaccine doses will arrive from India in the country on February 1.

(With inputs from PTI)