Coronavirus Vaccination: Over 77 lakh healthcare and frontline workers took the first dose till Friday.
The second dose of the Covid vaccine will be administered today to those who took the first shot on Day 1 of the nationwide inoculation drive on January 16. AIIMS chief Dr Randeep Guleria and NITI Aayog's VK Paul, who were among the first to take the jab, are expected to receive the second shot, which needs to be taken 28 days after the first one.
Experts have, however, clarified that the second dose can be taken anytime between four to six weeks from the first dose.
Over 77 lakh healthcare and frontline workers have received the first dose of the vaccine till Friday, the government said, adding that 97 per cent people of the beneficiaries are "satisfied". India has set a target of inoculating 30 crore people against COVID-19 by July.
India took just 26 days to vaccinate over 70 lakh people, while it took 27 days for the US and 48 days for the UK to reach the same figures, the Health Ministry had said earlier.
With over 8 lakh beneficiaries, Uttar Pradesh has recorded the highest number of vaccinations, followed by Maharashtra (6,33,519) and Gujarat (6,61,508)
"Thirteen states and UTs have vaccinated over 65 per cent of the registered healthcare workers. Bihar leads with over 79 per cent of the registered healthcare workers vaccinated," it said.
Seven states and UTs have reported less than 40 per cent vaccinations of the registered healthcare workers. Puducherry has recorded the lowest vaccination performance of 17.5 per cent, it stated.
The ministry said 17 states and UTs have not reported any deaths in the last 24 hours.
Currently, two vaccines - Serum Institute's Covishield and Bharat Biotech's Covaxin - are being administered. There is also a chance that a third vaccine - Russian-made Sputnik - will be available in India in April.