On 21st October 2021, Indians marked the glory of crossing over 1 billion vaccinations and hit the 100 crores milestone by Thursday morning. Nevertheless, India achieved this remarkable achievement of vaccinating 100 crore people in over ten months.
On this historic win, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya congratulated the citizens of India on crossing the milestone, and he tweeted, “Congratulations, India! This is a result of the able leadership of visionary Prime Minister Narendra Modi. #VaccineCentury
On this glorious occasion, Prime Minister Narendra Modi showed gratitude towards the doctors. He said: “India scripts history; we are witnessing the triumph of Indian science, enterprise and collective spirit of 130 crore Indians.
Congrats, India, on crossing 100 crore vaccinations. Gratitude to our doctors, nurses, and all those who worked to achieve this feat. #VaccineCentury
On Thursday, Shashi Tharoor, Congress Leader, celebrated the historic win of 100 crore vaccination by giving credits to the Central government, saying that after severe mismanagement of the second wave and botched-up vaccination orders, the government “has partly redeemed itself”.
This remark, however, invited Pawan Khera, a party colleague, for a sharp response, who said that giving credit to the government is an “insult” to millions of families that “suffered due to the mismanagement” of the pandemic.
WHO’s Regional Director, South-East Asia, Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, stated that this “extraordinary feat” was not possible in a short duration without a “strong political leadership, inter-sectoral convergence, dedicated efforts of the entire health and frontline workforce”.
India did a magnificent job in reaching a height as great as successfully vaccinating 100 crore people. India rolled out the vaccination program effectively and successfully, despite the troubles caused by the hike in the numbers of COVID-19 patients back in April; India did not lose hope but stood tall in the face of adversity and gave it a great answer that, if determined enough. If you have strong team support, no trademark becomes challenging sufficient to achieve.
India aimed at vaccinating 300 million citizens by August but successfully surpassed the trademark by vaccinating over 500 million Indians.
It is indeed a moment of pride and honour to have reached such a commendable mark in less than a year; with adequate planning and execution, India vaccinated over 1 billion people in over ten months since it rolled out the vaccination program.
Nevertheless, India has administered five times more jabs than Japan, nine times more than Germany, and ten times more than France. India took 85 days to hit the first benchmark of 10 crore vaccinations.
According to the Health Ministery, it has been on a spike since then, and it’s because of that spike, today we are celebrating the milestone of 1 billion vaccinations.
Important points to consider:
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the RML hospital in Delhi to mark the milestone, congratulated the country over the historic win, and called it the “triumph of Indian science, enterprise and collective spirit of 130 crore Indians”.
- Uttar Pradesh bags number one position, administered most vaccinations followed by Maharashtra, West Bengal, Gujarat, and Madhya Pradesh.
- The milestone comes like a silver lining in the dark cloud; after witnessing a hike in April and May by 400,000 infections and 4,000 deaths per day, India managed to rise and shoot back only to achieve the glory it successfully has.
- Cases in India are now on the verge to decline and have fallen to fewer than 15,000 infections per day, and as the conditions are easing, so is the normality of the country.
- The milestone was undertaken by Kailash Kher singing a song to commend the extraordinary moment. The event took place at Red Fort in Delhi; the celebration was also followed by raising the most extensive national flag weighing around 1,400 kg.
India indeed has reached a glorious milestone, but here the responsibility has not ended; India yet has to vaccinate millions of people, and a challenging road full of opportunities and adversities awaits India in the future.
