Ravi Shastri gets Covid vaccine shot before 4th India-England test; 'extremely impressed'

Indian cricket team head coach Ravi Shastri received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at Apollo Hospital in Ahmedabad on Tuesday. Sharing a picture of himself getting vaccinated, Shastri thanked the "amazing medical professionals and scientists" for empowering India against the pandemic.

'Got the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine'

"Extremely impressed with the professionalism shown by Kantaben and her team at Apollo, Ahmedabad in dealing with COVID-19 vaccination," he wrote. Shastri, 58, is currently with the Indian team in Ahmedabad where the fourth Test match between India and England will be played from Thursday at the Narendra Modi Stadium. India is leading the series 2-1 after defeating the visitors by 10 wickets in a match that lasted less than two days. 

A total of 1,28,630 beneficiaries over 60 years of age and 18,850 aged 45 and above with co-morbidities took the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine on Monday, according to a provisional report of the Union Health Ministry as the cumulative number of vaccine doses administered in the country crossed 1.47 crore.

The countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16 with the inoculation of healthcare workers, while the vaccination of the frontline workers (FLWs) started from February 2. The next phase of COVID-19 vaccination commenced from Monday for those over 60 years of age and for people aged 45 and above with specified co-morbid conditions.

The cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country has crossed 1.47 crore on Monday, the ministry said. The ministry said that 25 lakh potential beneficiaries registered on the Co-Win portal http://cowin.gov.in since the registration opened up at 9 am on Monday.

Out of this, 24.5 lakh are citizens and the rest are HCWs and FLWs. About 6.44 lakh appointments were booked by the citizen beneficiaries on Monday.

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PM Modi gets vaccinated

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday took the COVID-19 vaccine and was the first to get the jab leading India's inoculation drive in its second phase in which the coverage has been expanded to include everyone above 60 and those over 45 with co-morbidities.

PM Modi, 70, was administered his first dose of the indigenous Covaxin developed by Bharat Biotech at around 6.30 am at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi. He later appealed to all those who are eligible to get themselves vaccinated against the coronavirus.

As the vaccination programme got underway amid hopes it would help control the uptick in COVID cases in several states, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, Union ministers Amit Shah and S Jaishankar, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his Odisha counterpart Naveen Patnaik,  the Governor of Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu Kalraj Mishra and Banwarilal Purohit respectively, Infosys co-founders N R Narayanamurthy and Kris Gopalakrishnan were among the noted personalities who received their shots.

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(With PTI inputs)