New Delhi, Sep 9 (IANS): With the introduction of Covid-19 Vaccine Tracker on the Union Health Ministry website, vaccine coverage across India can easily be tracked in real time, Indian Council of Medical Research Director General Balram Bhargava said on Thursday.
"The Covid tracker will give week by week data on the Health Ministry's website about the percentage of double and single doses of Covid-19 vaccine being administered across India," he said at a press conference on actions taken, preparedness and updates on Covid-19.
The tracker will be added to the website soon, he added.
While the percentage of double and single dose data will be indicated through green and blue line, respectively, the figure of unvaccinated population will be depicted through red.
Highlighting the effectiveness of the vaccine, the ICMR chief said that the percentage of fatality amongst those who have taken both the doses of vaccine is 0, whereas of those with single dose is 1-2 per cent only.
Answering a question on the Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA) status of new vaccines in the country, NITI Aayog's Member, Health, Dr V.K. Paul said that the EUA status is well known for Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines.
"That option is open. However, regarding import or deployment from local production of J&J within country, there are issues around which we have to find a common ground with the manufacturers and we are working on it," he said.
With the administration of 86,51,701 vaccine doses in the last 24 hours, India's Covid-19 vaccination coverage surpassed the cumulative figure of 71.65 crore (71,65,97,428) as per provisional reports till 7 a.m. today. This has been achieved through 73,56,173 sessions.
States and UTs like Sikkim, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, and Himachal Pradesh have covered their entire eligible population with the first dose of Covid vaccination.
According to the Union Health Ministry, India reported 43,263 new cases of Covid-19 and 338 deaths from the disease in the past 24 hours, marking a 14.2 per cent decrease in daily infections compared to Wednesday.