New Delhi, Jan 2 (IANS): The union health ministry on Sunday said that a recently published news article by a reputed international news agency claiming that India has missed its vaccination target is misleading and does not represent the complete picture.

In the fight against pandemic, India's national Covid-19 vaccination programme has been one of the most successful and largest compared with many developed western nations with significantly low population base to vaccinate, said the ministry in a statement.

In the drive, India has achieved several milestones unprecedented in the world, including administering over 100 crore doses in less than 9 months, administering 2.51 crore doses in a single day and administering 1 crore doses per day on several occasions.

So far, India has administered over 90 per cent 1st dose and 65 per cent of 2nd dose to its eligible citizens, said the ministry.

Presenting the vaccination status of other developed nations, the ministry said that in case of 1st dose coverage to the eligible population, the US has covered only 73.2 per cent of the population, the UK has covered 75.9 per cent of its population, France has covered 78.3 per cent of its population, and Spain has covered 84.7 per cent of its population. India has already covered 90 per cent of the eligible population with 1st dose of vaccine against Covid-19.

Similarly, for the 2nd dose, the US has covered only 61.5 per cent of its population, the UK has covered 69.5 per cent, France has covered 73.2 per cent and Spain has covered 81 per cent of its population. While India has covered over 65 per cent of the eligible population with 2nd dose of vaccine against Covid-19.

Further strengthening India's fight against Covid pandemic, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) has given approval to two additional vaccines in December 2021, taking the number of vaccines given restricted use approval in emergency situation in India to 8, clarified the ministry.