COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker: Over 3.07 lakh people receive coronavirus vaccine on February 22

The COVID-19 vaccination drive in India commenced on January 16. (Image: AP)

A total of 1,14,24,094 beneficiaries have so far been vaccinated for COVID-19 through 2,44,071 sessions held till the evening of February 22, the 38th day of the immunisation drive, according to a provisional report of the Union Health Ministry.

On February 22, 3,07,238 beneficiaries were vaccinated till 6 pm through 11,754 sessions, the ministry said. Of these, 1,59,550 beneficiaries were vaccinated for the first dose of the vaccine and 1,47,688 healthcare workers received the second dose, it said.

The second dose of COVID-19 vaccination started from the day for those beneficiaries who have completed 28 days after receipt of the first dose. The approval provided by DCGI accords a window of four weeks to six weeks for the second dose.

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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:

> A total of 27,219 beneficiaries received COVID-19 vaccine across 306 centres on February 22, including 5,459 people who got their second dose, as the inoculation drive picked up pace, officials said. The overall turnout was about 88 percent. Eight minor cases of AEFI (adverse events following immunisation) were reported, they added. So far, over three lakh beneficiaries have received COVID-19 vaccine till date in Delhi since the start of the inoculation drive a month ago. Of these, more than 1.35 lakh are healthcare workers and over 1.71 lakh frontline workers, as per the data.

> A total of 57,367 persons were administered COVID-19 vaccines in Maharashtra on the day, taking the total tally of inoculations to 9,83,830. According to an official statement, 36,182 got the first dose while the remaining 21,185 were administered the second dose. Among those who got the first dose, 10,947 were healthcare workers, while 25,235 were frontline staff. Of the total beneficiaries, 55,860 were administered Covishield vaccine, while 1,507 were given Covaxin, it said.

> Union Home Minister Amit Shah reviewed the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination drive in the country on the day. The review meeting was also attended by Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla and top officials of the two ministries.

> The most reliable longer-term protection against coronavirus is provided through vaccination, experts said on Monday noting that the immunity afforded by the presence of antibodies might be expected to last only several months. The experts -- Rajeeva Karandikar from the Chennai Mathematical Institute; Shekhar Mande, Director General, CSIR; and M Vidyasagar from IIT Hyderabad -- said it is crucial to ensure that the number of cases does not start increasing again as it has in many countries such as Italy, the UK, and the USA.

(With inputs from PTI)