Day Before Its National Record, Madhya Pradesh Vaccinated A Mere 4,100

Madhya Pradesh set a national record on June 21 by administering 16,91,967 COVID-19 vaccines. Yet, a day earlier, it inoculating only 4,098 people, according to a health bulletin issued by the state government.

Similarly, the number of people who were administered the vaccine on June 18 and 19 was also considerably lower at 11,742 and 24,700, respectively. Compared to these, 1,27,130 people were inoculated on June 17 and 3,50,356 on June 16.

"Our Chief Minister had targeted 10 lakh doses on June 21, but the enormous public response actually resulted in 16.95 lakh plus doses," Vishwas Sarang, the Madhya Pradesh Medical Education Minister, told NDTV when asked about such major variance.

He said up to 21,29,400 doses were allocated for Monday's mega campaign, which saw 16.95 lakh doses administered free of cost at 14,500 government and private medical facilities.

Asked if the state had hoarded vaccines looking to set a record, Mr Sarang said, "No vaccines were hoarded, neither was vaccination slowed down prior to the June 21 mega campaign. Always remember that Covid vaccination in Madhya Pradesh happens at government centres four days a week -- Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday. So, the vaccination might have been low on those days."

While this seemed to fit Sunday, June 20's numbers (4,098 doses), comparable data from previous Sundays of the month -- June 13 (43,783) and June 6 (1,22,643) told a different tale.

Up to 88.09 lakh COVID-19 vaccine doses were administered across the country on June 21, the highest single-day coverage till now. Yesterday happened to be day one of the Centre's new vaccination policy roll-out, opening it up for all above 18 years of age.