Indian PM takes 2nd dose of COVID-19 vaccine

NEW DELHI - India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday morning received his second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, his office said.

Modi took the second jab at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi. The Indian prime minister received his first dose of vaccine on March 1.

He urged the Indian people to get themselves vaccinated against the COVID-19 pandemic as soon as possible.

"Got my second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at AIIMS today. Vaccination is among the few ways we have, to defeat the virus. If you are eligible for the vaccine, get your shot soon," Modi wrote on social media, sharing a picture of himself receiving the vaccine.

Modi took the Covaxin vaccine, India's home-grown vaccine developed by India's biotech company Bharat Biotech.

India has recently seen a resurgence in COVID-19 cases.

India's federal health ministry on Thursday morning said that 126,789 new COVID-19 cases and 685 more deaths from the coronavirus epidemic were registered in the past 24 hours across the country.

So far this is the highest single-day spike recorded in the Asian country, where mass vaccination drive started on Jan. 16.

Initially, healthcare and frontline workers were vaccinated, followed by those aged 50 and older and the under-50 population groups with comorbidities.

On April 1 India's health ministry started the third phase of COVID-19 vaccination to inoculate people aged 45 years and older.