New Delhi, Feb 21: The nationwide vaccination program against COVID-19 was rolled out on 16th Jan 2021. 20th Feb marked India’s 35th day of this vaccination drive. India became the second fastest country, after USA, to give more than 1 crore (10 million) doses of COVID-19 vaccination in a span of 34 days. No serious side effects were reported due to the vaccination, with only 43 persons hospitalized so far after the vaccination. This comprises 0.0004% of the total vaccinations done so far.
A total of 1,08,38,323 vaccine doses were given through 2,29,462 sessions in 37 States and Union Territories (UTs) which includes 63,52,713 Health Care Workers (HCWs) who have taken the 1st dose and 8,73,940 HCWs who have taken the 2nd dose.
The highest number of vaccinations on single day was 6,58,674, recorded on 18th Feb. Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal, Jammu and Kashmir, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Kerala recorded the highest number of vaccinations.
Hyderabad, Feb 20: Emergency Use Authorization (EUA): A drug needs to satisfy a lot of conditions and tests before it can be sold in the Market. But in an emergency, like the COVID -19 pandemic, if it is not possible to have all the tests done to approve a drug, the concerned authorities can decide to use and issue an EUA to make it available even without all the tests that would confirm its effectiveness and safety. Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd, a Hyderabad based pharma company has applied to the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) for EUA of Sputnik V from Russia based on the evidence that the vaccine has already been given to more than two million people worldwide. Sputnik V has an efficacy of 91.6 per cent and has permissions to be used in 26 countries. If approved by DCGI, Sputnik V will be available for use in India with the Covaxin and Covishield.