Covid-19 vaccine doses in India cross 1.5 billion on Friday, PM Modi calls it a 'significant milestone'

The total number of Covid-19 vaccine doses administered in the country has crossed 1.5 billion on Friday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has termed this feat as a “significant milestone” in the fight against the pandemic.

The PM was speaking during the virtual inauguration of the second campus at Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute in Kolkata, where he said, “Today, the nation has crossed an important milestone. India started the year with the vaccination of children in the age group of 15-18 years. Today, we are achieving the target of giving 1.5 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccine, and that too, in less than a year.”

Health minister Mansukh Mandaviya tweeted, “With the guidance of PM @NarendraModi and the efforts of our health workers, India has achieved the historic record of 150 crore vaccinations. Nothing is impossible when everyone contributes.”

India had crossed the milestone of 1 billion Covid vaccine shots on October 21 last year.

The PM, while speaking at the event, added that even as Covid-19 cases were rising fast because of the highly transmissible Omicron variant, more than 90% of the country’s senior citizens have received their first dose. “Around 15 million children in the age group of 15-18 years were vaccinated against the disease in the first five days of the year,” he said.

However, during her address at the same event, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said that the campus at Chittaranjan institute had earlier been inaugurated by the state government in order to set up a Covid-19 facility.

“For the Prime Minister’s knowledge, I would like to say that we have already inaugurated the campus. How did we do it? When Covid-19 was raging and we were in need of a centre (Covid-19 hospital), I went to the campus one day. We turned it into a Covid-19 centre as the state government had a stake in it,” Banerjee said.

Taking a jibe at the central government, she added, “The Prime Minister would be happy to know that the state has provided 11 acres of land and 25% of the funds for the campus. The recurring cost of ₹71 crore would also be borne by the state. That’s why, sometimes, the Centre and the states should work together for development.”