New Delhi: The Centre said over 2.24 lakh people were given COVID-19 vaccine in two days in the country with 447 adverse events reported.
Three of them were hospitalised. Two were later discharged from the Northern Railway Hospital and AIIMS in Delhi. One is under observation at AIIMS, Rishikesh and his condition is stated to be fine.
Additional Secretary in the Union Health Ministry, Manohar Agnani, said as many as 2,07,229 beneficiaries received the jabs on Saturday, the highest number of people vaccinated in any country on day one.
On Sunday, only six states conducted vaccination drive and in 553 sessions a total of 17,072 beneficiaries were vaccinated, Agnani said.
A total of 447 AEFI (adverse event following immunisation) were reported on January 16 and 17, out of which only three required hospitalisation. Most of the AEFI reported so far are minor like fever, He said an AEFI may or may not be related to the vaccine or vaccination process.
Officials said nearly 50 per cent of intended beneficiaries have taken the jab in Delhi, Assam and Andhra Pradesh. They expressed the hope that the vaccination drive will pick up soon.
Under the nationwide mega vaccination drive launched on Saturday, a total of 4,319 (53 percent) health workers against a target of 8,117 were administered the vaccines at 81 centres across the national capital.
The officials said the Delhi government will now take measures like counselling and formal phone calls in the coming days to encourage people to take the COVID-19 vaccines.
