Last Updated on November 15, 2021 by Team THIP
Quick Take
A number of media houses and social media users claimed that India has administered COVID vaccines to one billion people by October 2021. We fact-checked and found that the claim is false.
The Claim
“India administered vaccines to One billion people,” the claim has been made by Tweeter users. A sample tweet is given below.
The same misleading statement was also made by UK Foreign Secretary Elizabeth Truss when she congratulated India on administering vaccines to One Billion people. The same is visible in the video below (at 2.31).
Fact Check
Has India administered vaccines to One Billion people?
No. India has not administered vaccines to one billion people.
The population of India is 1.3 billion people. Had India administered vaccines to 1 billion people, that would have meant India had administered vaccines to over 75% population. But this is not the case. As per Govt sources, by September only 20% of India’s adult population fully vaccinated.
Why did people believe that India administered vaccines to 1 billion people?
By confusion. India celebrated administering One billion doses of vaccines on 21st October, 2021. This was wrongly interpreted by many as one million people vaccinated.
The Indian Government also distributed a press release through Press Information Bureau (PIB) on the occasion of crossing 1 billion vaccination doses. The press release had a clear break up of the number of people vaccinated with first doses and the number of people vaccinated with both doses. The archived version of the press release can be seen here and a screenshot is also given below.
This message was wrongly interpreted by many. However, one billion vaccine doses does not mean one billion people vaccinated.
A total vaccination numbers, as on date, is available on the Indian Govt website here.
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