New Delhi,  India on Sunday reached the historic milestone of 200 crore mark in Covid-19 vaccination. The milestone has been achieved after 18 months when the nation began the mass vaccination on January 16, 2021.

According to the Co-Win Portal, with a total 1.91 lakhs of vaccine being administered so far on Sunday, the number crossed the milestone mark of 200 crore. A total of 199.97 crore Covid vaccine doses were administered across the country until Saturday night, which includes 5.48 crore doses of the precaution dose.

On January 16, 2021, two Made-in-India vaccines -- Covaxin and Covishield -- were made available for the Indian citizens. After nine months, India completed the first 100 crore vaccination mark on October 21, 2021. The nation has completed 200 crore mark again after nine months on July 17, 2022.

It took 277 days to reach the earlier milestone of 100 crore doses. On September 17 last year, the highest 2.5 crore vaccine doses were administered in a single day.

Congratulating the nation on this historic mark, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said that India has made a new record. "India has set a new record by completing the target of 200 crore vaccinations in just 18 months. Hearty congratulations to all the countrymen on this achievement", said Mandaviya in a tweet. He said that this day is to be remembered forever.

Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director WHO South-East Asia, also congratulated India on administering 2 billion Covid-19 vaccine doses.

"Congratulations India for administering over 2 billion Covid-19 vaccine doses. This is yet another evidence of the country's commitment and efforts to minimise the impact of the ongoing pandemic. Covid-19 vaccines provide protection against severe disease and death for all variants. We must continue our efforts to ensure everyone everywhere benefits from these life-saving vaccines. Let us not forget that the pandemic is still around even after taking the vaccine we must remember to take all precautionary measures to curtail the virus spread," Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh said.

India's first patient infected with Covid virus was reported in Thrissur District of Kerala on January 30, 2020. However, the global health body World Health Organisation also declared Covid outbreak as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) on January 30, 2020. Later on, March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak as a pandemic.