India administered over 5.6 million (56.1 Lakhs) doses of COVID-19 vaccine on August 23, taking the total number of people who received at least one shot of vaccine to 588 million (58.82 Cr).
Despite the high number of doses, the percentage of fully vaccinated patients is between 10-14 percent.
The viral vector vaccines (Covishield, Covaxin, and Sputnik V) available in the country require to be administered in two doses, with a time gap in between.
National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 (NEGVAC) recommends the second dose after 84 days (12-16 weeks) for optimum protection.
New cases of the coronavirus
The country reported 3,33,924 active cases of coronavirus infection, with 25,072 reported over the last 24 hours.
Kerala reported nearly half of India’s infections, at over 1.6 Lakh.
The central government has already allocated Rs. 267.35 Cr to Kerala last week to cope with the outbreak. Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya had visited the state on August 16 to take stock of the situation.
Maharashtra recorded the second highest number of cases in the country at 56,690, with 3,643 reported overnight.
Tamil Nadu has 19,171 cases of active infections, with 1,604 of those reported in the last 24 hours.
Across the country, 4.3 lakh people have succumbed to the virus so far.