India crosses 100 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses

India crosses 100 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses

Part of: Prelims and GS II – Health 

Context India completed 100 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccines on Thursday, in about nine months since the drive began.

• It has fully vaccinated about 30% (291 million) of the eligible population and 707 million have had the first dose.
• India aims to fully vaccinate about a billion people by the end of 2021 but experts say the drive needs to pick up pace further to meet the target.
• This milestone makes India the second country to reach the one billion mark – China crossed it in June.problems.

Initial challenges to the vaccination drive in india 

• Logistical problems
• supply bottlenecks
• vaccine hesitancy 
• a devastating second wave of Covid-19 

Which vaccines is India using?

• India is using three vaccines – the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab, known locally as Covishield; Covaxin by Indian firm Bharat Biotech; and Russian-made Sputnik V.
• India has also approved its first vaccine for those under 18. The three-dose ZyCoV-D vaccine is the world’s first DNA vaccine against Covid-19. It is expected to roll out in few weeks. ZyCov-D has been developed with the support of Department of Biotechnology and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
• The government has also authorised Indian pharma company Cipla to import Moderna’s vaccine, which has shown nearly 95% efficacy against Covid-19. But it’s not clear yet how many doses will be made available to India.
• Several more vaccines are in various stages of approval.

100 monuments illuminated

• The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) also illuminated 100 monuments in the tricolour to celebrate the milestone of 100 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses.
• These monuments include:
• Delhi: Red Fort, Humayun’s Tomb and Qutub Minar 
• Uttar Pradesh: Agra Fort and Fatehpur Sikri 
• Tamil Nadu: Konark Temple in Odisha and Mamallapuram Rath temples