Coronavirus vaccine in India: Key updates of last 24 hours you need to know

India administered 170 million Covid-19 vaccine doses fastest globally, the Union Health Ministry said on Monday. China took 119 days while the US took 115 days for reaching the same landmark. Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh account for 66.79 per cent of the cumulative doses given so far in the country.

But there is shortage of vaccination across the country. Biocon Executive Chairman Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw has expressed concern over shortage of Covid-19 vaccines and sought better transparency from the government regarding their availability so that citizens could patiently wait for their turn.

India's most socioeconomically backward states may have to spend as much as 30% of their health budgets to procure Covid-19 vaccines for their populations, an IndiaSpend analysis of population and state budget data has found. They would have to shell out as much as 23% if they were to procure only Serum Institute of India's (SII) Covishield, and up to 30% for Bharat Biotech's Covaxin.

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