NEW DELHI, Jan 17: India vaccinated 2,24,301 of its people during the first two days since the launch of the vaccination drive by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday morning with only 447 adverse events like fever, headache and nausea reported from across the country so far, according to the Union Health Ministry. Only six States participated in the programme on the second day, resulting in low turnout.

Although three lakh health workers were expected to receive the vaccination on the first day with a hundred persons getting vaccinated at each of the 3,006 sites identified throughout the country per day, on the first day, only 2,07,229 of the registered beneficiaries were administered the vaccine, but it is considered a huge success for the world's largest mission to arrest the coronavirus pandemic.

On Sunday, only six States participated in the programme, with 17,072 people getting vaccinated. Maharashtra suspended the vaccination throughout the State on Saturday eveing as the Co-Win software that registers the beneficiaries with all details and keeps live contact with them through mobile phone, developed technical glitches. The State will resume the operations on Tuesday only.

On the first day, Uttar Pradesh topped the list of recipients with 21,291 vaccinations. In Delhi, at 81 sites, 4,319 healthcare workers were vaccinated on Saturday with 52 cases of AEFI (Adverse Event Following Immunization) being reported. "Only one case in Delhi had to be admitted to the hospital, the remaining 51 did not have to be hospitalised," said Health Minister Satyender Jain. Tamil Nadu vaccinated 6,155 healthcare workers in the two days. Nagpur reported 201 AEFIs out of 3,881 recipients, although the Maharashtra Government said there was no adverse reactions in the State. There were 11 AEFI cases in Telangana. In Kolkata, a nurse became unconscious soon after receiving the vaccine.

The national programme was not without controversies. With the first phase meant for the health workers and after the Prime Minister urging politicians not to rush for the vaccine right now in the first phase, TMC MLAs were reported cornering the vaccine in Bengal, kicking up a row.

As usual there were also petty accusations raised by politicians who asked Modi why didn't he take a jab to instill confidence in the people who were sceptical about the safety of the vaccines, ignoring the guidelines that stipulate the first phase goes to the health workers. The AIIMS director and the Serum Institute CEO, both belonging to the public health sector, led the programme in their respective places, creating confidence in the beneficiaries.

Indigenously manufactured Oxford-AstraZeneca's Covishield and Covaxin of Bharat Biotech are being administered in the country. The first phase of the vaccination drive covers one crore of healthcare workers and two crores of frontline workers. It is free for them, considering the sacrifices they make to save the lives of their countrymen.

Meanwhile, the covid casualty in the country continued to stay below the 300 mark for the 23rd consecutive day on Sunday with the total deaths reaching 1,52,311.