New Delhi, Dec 12 (IANS) India is the most pro-vaccine country in the world with more than 98 per cent of the country's eligible population showing willingness to get inoculated against the deadly Coronavirus, as per the findings of the IANS-CVoter Covid Vaccine Tracker.
Mirroring the high acceptance levels of vaccination shown in CVoter Covid Vaccine Tracker, more than 89 lakh vaccines were administered in past 24 hours, as per the data released by Health Ministry. India's cumulative Covid-19 vaccination coverage (Dose 1+ Dose 2) has now exceeded 133 crore.
Of the 90 crore adult population of the country, more than 81 crore people have got their Dose 1 of the Covid-19 vaccine. According to the findings of the IANS-CVoter Covid Vaccine Tracker, of the remaining 9 crore unvaccinated, 7.5 crore want to their jab to get protection against the lethal virus.
Only 1.5 crore people have shown either unwillingness or hesitancy to get their jab.
The tracker also found that even those who had shown unwillingness or hesitancy to get vaccinated were not rigid against taking the jab. They had their reasons for not getting vaccine and a session or two of counselling by the health personnel may easily convince them to get vaccinated.
As per the vaccination data released by Health Ministry, India is administering around 60–70 lakh Covid-19 vaccine doses every day. With this speed of vaccination, India will be able to vaccinate whole of its adult population with first dose by the end of this month.
In the vaccination drive, the entire population may not be counted, as the eligible population is only above 18 years. Compared to India, vaccine hesitancy is much higher in European countries and US.
The non-recognition of the Covishield vaccine has impacted the Indians, especially students travelling to the UK. This issue was flagged during the meeting between Indian External Affairs Minister Dr Jaishankar and UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss on Monday in Washington DC.
She reached Chandigarh, the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana, by air in the morning from where she headed straight to her daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's cottage located amid forests of pine and cedar on the suburbs of the Himachal Pradesh capital.
Channi took oath of office along with his two deputies -- one a Jat Sikh and another belonging to the Hindu community -- at a simple ceremony here in the Punjab capital that was delayed for 20 minutes owing to the late arrival of party leader Rahul Gandhi.
Jasbir Singh Virk, president of Bhartiya Sikh Sangthan, has underlined the need to intensify the ongoing farmers' agitation and said that there was a need to shore up strength at the Delhi borders.
Punjab BJP President Ashwani Sharma told IANS that to control infighting in its party state unit, the Congress leadership made Channi ji (Charanjit Singh Channi) the Punjab Chief Minister but insulted the Dalit community by not allowing him to lead the party in the upcoming state Assembly polls.
The government and drug controller's office will have to take a decision on the third booster dose based on data and cases as times goes on and including how effective the vaccine is on the Delta virus variant, he added.
