Bengal crosses 5 crore COVID-19 vaccinations
Saturday saw two COVID-19 vaccination milestones for Bengal—crossing five crore doses in total, and crossing 13 lakh for a day, which is the highest for the state so far.
On Saturday, Bengal achieved the distinction of having administered five crore doses of COVID-19 vaccine, said a press statement by the state Health Department. Till 8 pm, the figure was 5,05,59,575.
On the same day, the state achieved another milestone by recording more than 13 lakh vaccinations, which was the highest single-day vaccination.
As per the Health Department data, Bengal reached up to two crore doses from one crore in 54 days, from two crore to three crore in 40 days, from three crore to four crore in 29 days, and from four to five crore in just 18 days.
According to sources in the Health Department, the progression of the vaccination programme would have been much faster had it not been for the uneven supply of vaccines, as well the partiality towards BJP-ruled states when it came to supplying the vaccines.
Notably, the Union Health Ministry had earlier highly appreciated the state for being the best in terms of not wasting vaccine doses. In fact, the figure for wastage of doses for Bengal was in the negative, implying that more than the normally-calculated-for doses were extracted from each vial, which is a mark of efficacy of those administering the vaccine, which also implies better training given to them by the state government (when manufacturing the number of doses possible from a vial is calculated after considering some wastage).
