Vaxxed to the max: A look at India's COVID vaccination drive that is set to overtake US, Europe and Canada combined

With nearly 1.96 billion vaccine doses administered, India is set to overtake the combined vaccination of the US, Europe and Canada. As per the data released by Our World in Data website, India has administered about 1.96 billion doses. The exact number according to the CoWin portal is 1,96,24,21,213 as of 21 June.

A milestone that’s crept up quietly: Indian total vaccination count is on the cusp of overtaking the vaccinations in all of Europe, United States and Canada combined.

These countries host all western production, and in effect Indian production now matches them all combined. pic.twitter.com/dSkhPwTdXO

— Suraj (@surajbrf) June 20, 2022

The data available with Our World in Data shows numbers till 15 June for all the mentioned countries and continents. The US had administered 592.27 million doses, whereas Canada gave 85.91 million doses till 15 June. The number for the entire Europe stood at 1.29 billion on 19 June. Let’s take a look at how India has fared in its vaccination drive: India’s vaccination coverage The nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive started on 16 January, 2021. As per the official data available on CoWin portal, a total of 1,96,24,21,213 doses have been administered so far, of which 1,01,49,16,146 have been first dose and 90,69,49,409 is the number of second doses. Must read: India to soon get its first mRNA COVID-19 vaccine: Why is this being touted as a gamechanger? India started administering precautionary COVID doses from 10 January, 2022 for healthcare and frontline workers and comorbid people aged 60 and above. It later included the 18+ population for precautionary doses. Till date, a total of 4,05,55,658 precaution doses have been administered across India. At present, India is vaccinating all above the age of 12. It was believed almost unachievable for India to vaccinate the world’s second largest population, however, despite hurdles like vaccine shortage, vaccination hesitancy, severe multiple waves of the COVID-19 pandemic, the nation managed to administer 100 crore doses in a little over nine months till 21, October 2021. Also read: What is Anocovax, India’s first COVID-19 vaccine for animals? Have pets, wildlife received jabs in other countries? In the next eight months till 21 June, India administered more than 96 crore doses, including precautionary doses to the fully vaccinated population. What is the vaccination status worldwide? Across 184 countries, over 12 billion doses have been administered, according to a report by Bloomberg. The latest rate was roughly 9.55 million doses a day. In the US, 592 million doses have been given so far. During the last week, shots were administered at an average rate of 169,076 doses a day. A total of 66.2 per cent of the US population has been fully vaccinated, with 31.2 per cent being administered booster doses. While in China 88.9 per cent of its population has been fully vaccinated, the share is 68.5 per cent in India where only 73.6 per cent of the population has received at least one dose of the vaccine and 2.9 per cent of the people have received booster doses. In Europe, 74 per cent of the population has received all the required doses of COVID-19 vaccines, while 53.3 per cent have received precaution doses. Several countries across the world have faced unequal access to vaccines and other difficulties in getting people vaccinated. The report says that the 50 least wealthy countries are home to 20.6 per cent of the world population but have access to only 8.6 per cent of the vaccinations. As per the report, globally 9,552,544 doses are being administered per day, including 2,831,100 people getting their first shot. At this speed, it will take eight more months till 75 per cent of the world population has received at least one dose. With inputs from agencies Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.