The government then decided to expand its vaccination drive by allowing everyone above 18 years to be inoculated against the viral disease from May 1 last year.
The cumulative COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country crossed 189.60 crore on Wednesday, the Union Health Ministry said. Over 12 lakh vaccine doses were administered on Wednesday till 7 pm. The daily vaccination tally is expected to increase with the compilation of the final reports for the day by late at the night.
A total of 41,153 precaution doses of Covid vaccine was administered to those aged between 18 and 59 years on Wednesday till 7 pm, taking the total such jabs given in this age group to 9,02,034, according to Health Ministry data.
India had on April 10 begun administering precaution doses of COVID-19 vaccines to all aged above 18 years at private vaccination centres. All those above 18 years who have completed nine months after the second dose are eligible for the precaution dose.
So far, over 2.63 crore precaution doses have been administered to healthcare workers, frontline workers and those aged 60 and above.The countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16 last year with healthcare workers getting inoculated in the first phase. Vaccination of frontline workers started from February 2 last year.
The next phase of the COVID-19 vaccination drive commenced on March 1 last year for people over 60 years and those aged 45 and above with specified comorbid conditions. India launched vaccination for all people aged more than 45 years from April 1 last year. The government then decided to expand its vaccination drive by allowing everyone above 18 years to be inoculated against the viral disease from May 1 last year.
The next phase of vaccination commenced from January 3 for adolescents in the age group of 15-18 years. India began administering precaution doses of vaccines to healthcare and frontline workers and those aged 60 and above with comorbidities from January 10. The country began inoculating children aged 12-14 from March 16 and also removed the comorbidity clause making all people aged above 60 eligible for the precaution dose of Covid vaccine.
(With PTI inputs)