India News | Over 180.95 Crore Covid Vaccine Doses Administered in India: Govt

New Delhi, Mar 17 (PTI) Over 8.21 lakh children aged 12 to 14 years have received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine so far, taking the total number of vaccine doses administered in the country past 180.95 crore, the Union health ministry said on Thursday.

Over 4.6 lakh vaccine doses were administered to beneficiaries aged 12 to 14 years on the second day of the inoculation drive for the age group, taking the total number of doses administered till 7 pm on Thursday to over 13 lakh, according to the ministry's data.

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Cumulatively, over 9.14 crore Covid vaccine doses have so far been administered to beneficiaries in the 15-18 age group, while more than 2.16 crore (2,16,24,841) precaution doses have been administered to healthcare workers (HCWs), frontline workers (FLWs) and those aged 60 years and above with comorbidities.

The daily vaccination tally is expected to go up with the compilation of the final reports by late night.

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The countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16 last year with the HCWs getting inoculated in the first phase. The vaccination of FLWs started from February 2 last year.

The next phase of Covid vaccination commenced on March 1 last year for people over 60 years of age and those aged 45 and above with specified co-morbid conditions.

India launched vaccination for all people aged above 45 from April 1 last year.

The government then decided to expand its vaccination drive by allowing everyone above 18 years of age to be inoculated against the viral disease from May 1 last year.

The next phase of Covid vaccination commenced from January 3 this year for adolescents in the age group of 15-18 years.

India began administering precaution doses of the vaccines to the HCWs, FLWs and those aged 60 years and above with comorbidities from January 10 this year.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)