Sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik has created a sand sculpture at the Puri beach in Odisha on the COVID-19 vaccination drive as India reached the one billion COVID-19 vaccinations milestone this morning.
With the sea in the backdrop, the colourful sand art has drawings of a map of India and a large vaccine injection needle with the words "Congratulations" and "India's Journey of 100 Crore Vaccinations" written.
The hashtag #largestvaccinedrive was also seen inscribed in the sand art alongside a bar indicating vaccination milestones.
In a landmark achievement, India's cumulative COVID-19 vaccination coverage crossed 100 crore doses today. The coronavirus vaccination drive was launched on January 16, 2021 and the government wants all of India's 944 million adults to get vaccinated this year.
Three-quarters of adults in the country of 1.3 billion people have had one shot and around 30 percent are fully vaccinated, the government says. To celebrate the record, the government planned announcements over loudspeakers on trains, planes, and ships while Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya launched a song by singer Kailash Kher.
Sudarsan Pattnaik also created the sand art to celebrate India's landmark achievement.
Recipient of many awards, Sudarsan Pattnaik is known for creating different sand sculptures at the Puri beach depicting various occasions. Just last week he created a sand art of Goddess Durga using seashells on the occasion of Durga Puja.
Mr Pattnaik has participated in more than 60 international sand art competitions across the world and won a number of prizes for the country.
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