National

COVID-19: Over 161 Cr Jabs Administered So Far, 74L Precaution Doses Given, Says Govt

The countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16 with healthcare workers getting inoculated in the first phase.

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
India's vaccination drive began on January 16.
info_icon

The cumulative COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country crossed 161.05 crore on Friday, the Union Health Ministry said.

More than 58 lakh (58,37,209) vaccine doses were administered till 7 pm on Friday. At least 74 lakh (74,27,700) precaution doses for the identified categories of beneficiaries have been administered so far, it said.

The daily vaccination tally is expected to increase with the compilation of the final reports for the day by late night, the ministry said. The vaccination of frontline workers started from February 2. The next phase of COVID-19 vaccination commenced from March 1 for people over 60 years of age and those aged 45 and above with specified co-morbid conditions.

The country launched vaccination for all people aged more than 45 years from April 1. The government then decided to expand its vaccination drive by allowing everyone above 18 to be vaccinated from May 1.The next phase of COVID-19 vaccination commenced from January 3 for adolescents in the age group of 15-18 years.

India began administering the precaution dose of COVID-19 vaccine to healthcare workers and frontline workers, including the personnel deployed for election duty, and those aged 60 and above with comorbidities from January 10 amid the country witnessing a spike in coronavirus infections fuelled by Omicron variant of the virus.

With inputs from PTI.