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India is administering nearly 9 million doses of the vaccine in one day as new infections fall to their lowest since March 16.
India has administered more than 8.8 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine in the past 24 hours, government data shows, nearing its all-time high and accelerating a campaign to vaccinate all eligible adults by December .
The increase in vaccinations was accompanied by a sharp drop in new daily infections which fell to 25,166, the lowest since March 16, the health ministry said on Tuesday.
India has embarked on one of the largest COVID-19 vaccination campaigns in the world and has so far administered 554 million doses, giving at least one dose to around 46% of its estimated 944 million adults .
Mehroo Jal Langrama, 80, receives vaccine at home in Mumbai [Francis Mascarenhas/Reuters]Only about 13 percent of the population received the two required doses.
After hitting a record 9.2 million doses on June 21, the rate of daily inoculations had fallen to an average of about 4.2 million per day in July, according to data compiled on the government website CoWIN.
During the first two weeks of August, India administered around 5 million doses per day.
People wait to receive COVID vaccine outside shopping mall in Mumbai [Francis Mascarenhas/Reuters]Experts said India must administer 10 million doses per day to meet its goal of vaccinating all adults by December.
“For each day we do not reach it, the required target increases,” Rijo John, health economist and professor at the Rajagiri College of Social Sciences in the southern city of Kochi.
“Actually, I don’t think we’ll be able to fully cover all adults by the end of this year.”
The total number of COVID-19 cases in India reached 32.25 million on Tuesday, the second highest in the world behind the United States.
The country has reported 437 deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the toll to 432,079.
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