Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Monday, 15 February, that the country will be in a situation to administer vaccines against COVID-19 to those above 50 years of age in March.
"In the last seven days, no new cases of COVID-19 have been reported in 188 districts of the country," he was quoted by news agency ANI, as he emphasised on the need for people to continue following COVID-appropriate behaviour, calling it the ‘social vaccine'.
Not one death has been reported due to COVID-19 vaccination till now, he said, adding, "If there's death after vaccination, it's being investigated. Even routine side-effects have a negligible number."
“COVID strengthened the country’s health potential. We turned a crisis into an opportunity. From one lab to 2,500 labs, we improved. Genome sequencing, which is being talked about now, has been in Indian labs since May-June last year.”Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, as quoted by ANI
India has carried out more than 85.16 lakh vaccinations against COVID-19 so far, with the second dose also being given to beneficiaries after a gap of 28 days.
India started its vaccination drive against COVID-19 on 16 January, days after the country's top drug regulator gave approval to two candidates—Bharat Biotech's 'Covaxin' and Serum Institute of India's 'Covishield'.
On Monday morning, India reported 11,649 new cases of coronavirus, taking the tally in the country to 1,09,16,589. Meanwhile, the death toll stands at 1,55,732.
(With inputs from ANI.)
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