Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh has set a new record by administering over 1.3 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines till 8 pm on Sunday. A total of 13,45,004 vaccine doses were administered to people across the state in a special drive that ended at at 9 pm. In the process, the state also crossed the 10 million mark in vaccinating people with the first dose.
"At 8 pm, over 1.3 million vaccinations have been completed across the state which is almost 50 per cent of the national vaccination drive. It is a remarkable achievement to show that our medical team and other staff can take up over 1 million vaccinations a day if government of India maintains the supply," the state government said in a statement.
"Special compliments to district collectors Visakhapatnam, East Godavari, West Godavari, Krishna and Guntur for making all out efforts in vaccinating more than 100,000 doses today in their districts," it said. The number reached 11,85,000 at 5 pm, tweeted Arogya Andhra, the official Covid response handle of the state government.
The special vaccination drive was undertaken by the state health department on the orders of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy. Previously, the state created a record by administering over 600,000 vaccines in a day. Officials said the credit goes to the network of volunteers and healthcare providers who made this possible, with the understanding that vaccination is the only way to stop Covid-19.
The state reported 5,646 fresh Covid cases, while 7,772 recovered and another 50 died of virus in the 24 hours. The vaccination drive, with focus on people over 45 years and mothers with children under five years, began at 6 am in more than 2,000 locations in all 13 districts of the state. The two Godavari districts, East and West, topped the list with 111,000 and 108,000 vaccinations on Sunday.
