- Tuesday, April 23, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
AMERICAN billionaire and philanthropist Bill Gates on Saturday (28) heaped praises on India for reaching a “tremendous milestone” of administering 10 million coronavirus vaccines on Friday (27), recording the highest coverage in a single day.
Gates said this was the result of the collective efforts of the government of India, the research and development community, vaccine manufacturers and all the health workers.
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“Congratulations, India, on reaching this tremendous milestone,” Gates, 65, wrote in a tweet as he shared a news article on the vaccine coverage.
“The collective efforts of the government, R&D community, vaccine manufacturers, and millions of health workers have made this feat possible,” Gates said. He also tagged the Twitter handles of Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s office and the country’s health ministry which in turn retweeted his post.
Congratulations, India, on reaching this tremendous milestone. The collective efforts of the government, R&D community, vaccine manufacturers, and millions of health workers have made this feat possible. @PMOIndia @MoHFW_INDIA https://t.co/cmvQiAfSZG
— Bill Gates (@BillGates) August 27, 2021
India saw a total of 10,064,376 doses being administered on Friday, bettering the previous highest of 8.82 million doses given on August 16. Nearly seven million vaccine jabs were being given on average across the country daily for the past week, the highest pace of the drive ever recorded in the country since the beginning of mass inoculation on January 16.
India has so far administered almost 626 million vaccine doses.
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Soumya Swaminathan, the chief scientist of the World Health Organisation, also praised India’s feat on Friday amid fears of a third wave hitting the country soon. “Congratulations to the thousands of personnel involved,” she said in a tweet. “Vaccination, along with public health & individual preventive measures will protect everyone!” Swaminathan, who recently said that India might be entering Covid endemic stage, added.
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi was also elated over the vaccination numbers on Friday, saying it was a “momentous feat” for the nation. He applauded both who got vaccinated and those running the vaccination drive across the nation.
Record vaccination numbers today!
Crossing 1 crore is a momentous feat. Kudos to those getting vaccinated and those making the vaccination drive a success.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 27, 2021
