The cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country crossed 194.41 crores on Tuesday, the Union Health Ministry said. Over 12 lakh vaccine doses have been administered till 7 pm on Tuesday, it said. The daily vaccination tally is expected to increase with the compilation of the final reports for the day by late night. A total of 95,089 precaution doses of COVID-19 vaccine were administered to those aged 18-59 years till 7 pm on Tuesday, taking the total number of such jabs doses given in this age group to 28,58,030 so far, according to the health ministry data.
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 on February 2 last year. The next phase of COVID-19 vaccination commenced on March 1 last year for people over 60 years of age and those aged 45 and above with specified comorbid conditions. Vaccination for people aged more than 45 years began on April 1 last year. The government then decided to expand the ambit of the vaccination drive by allowing everyone above 18 years to be inoculated against Covid from May 1 last year.
Inoculation of adolescents in the age group of 15-18 years commenced on January 3. So far, 3.46 crore children in the age group of 12-14 years and 5.96 crore adolescents in the age group 15-18 years have been administered the first dose of the vaccine. The country began inoculating children aged 12-14 on March 16 and also removed the comorbidity clause making all people aged above 60 eligible for the precaution dose of the Covid vaccine.
