Manish Kumar, a frontline sanitation worker at Delhi AIIMS who received India’s first COVID-19 vaccine in New Delhi on January 16. (PTI Photo)
New Delhi, January an 17 (PTI): A total of 2,24,301 beneficiaries have been inoculated with COVID-19 vaccine so far, out of which only 447 adverse events following immunisation (AEFI) were reported, the Union Health Ministry said on day two of the nationwide vaccination drive on Sunday.
Addressing a press briefing, the ministry's Additional Secretary Manohar Agnani said out of the 447 adverse events following immunisation, only three required hospitalisation.
"Today being Sunday, only six states conducted vaccination drive and in 553 sessions a total of 17,072 beneficiaries were vaccinated," he said.
The six states where the vaccination drive was carried out on Sunday are Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Manipur and Tamil Nadu, he added.
Agnani said a total of 2,24,301 beneficiaries have been vaccinated till January 17 as per provisional reports, adding that 2,07,229 of them received the jabs on day one of the drive.
"A total of 447 AEFI have been reported on January 16 and 17, out of which only three required hospitalisation. Most of the AEFI reported so far are minor like fever, headache, nausea," he said.
He said a meeting was held with all states and union territories on Sunday to review the progress of the drive, identify bottlenecks and plan corrective actions.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi rolled out the world's largest inoculation drive against COVID-19 on Saturday and said the two vaccines being deployed will ensure a "decisive victory" for India against the pandemic.
India has approved two vaccines -- Covaxin developed by Bharat Biotech and Covishield from the Oxford/AstraZeneca stable being manufactured by the Serum Institute of India -- for emergency use in the country.
According to the government, the shots will be offered first to an estimated one crore healthcare workers and around two crore frontline workers, and then to persons above 50 years of age, followed by persons younger than 50 years of age with associated comorbidities.
Highest inoculation in UP on Day-I
Meanwhile, Of the 1.91 lakh beneficiaries administered COVID-19 vaccine shots on the first day of the countrywide vaccination drive, the highest number of inoculations were carried out in Uttar Pradesh with 21291 people taking the jab.
According to the Health ministry data, the highest number of vaccines were administered in UP at 21291 followed by Andhra Pradesh at 18412, Maharashtra at 18328, Bihar at 18169, Odisha at 13746, Karnataka at 13594, Gujarat at 10787, Rajasthan at 9279, West Bengal at 9730, Madhya Pradesh at 9219, Kerala at 8062.
Besides, 5592 people in Chhattisgarh, 5,589 in Haryana, 4,319 in Delhi, 3653 in Telangana, 3528 in Assam, 3096 in Jharkhand, 2276 in Uttarakhand, 2,044 in Jammu and Kashmir, 1,517 in Himachal Pradesh and 1319 in Punjab were administered the vaccine on the first day.
Of the first day beneficiaries, 585 people were vaccinated in Manipur, 561 in Nagaland, 509 in Meghalaya, 426 in Goa, 355 in Tripura, 314 in Mizoram, 274 in Puducherry, 265 in Chandigarh, 225 in Andaman & Nicobar Islands, 120 in Sikkim, 80 from Dadra and Nagar Haveli, 79 from Ladakh, 43 from Daman and Diu and 21 from Lakshadweep.
The 11 states and union territories where both Covishield and Covaxin were administered were Assam (65 sessions), Bihar (301), Delhi (81), Haryana (77), Karnataka (242), Maharashtra (285), Odisha (161), Rajasthan (167) Tamil Nadu (160), Telangana (14) and Uttar Pradesh (317).
