India News | Over 186.21 Crore Covid Vaccine Doses Administered in India: Govt

New Delhi, Apr 13 (PTI) Over 16,350 precaution doses of COVID-19 vaccine were administered to beneficiaries in the 18-59 years age group till 7 pm on the fourth day of the drive on Wednesday, taking the total number of such doses given in this age group to 61,957 so far, according to the Union health ministry.

India's cumulative COVID-19 vaccination coverage crossed 186.21 crore on Wednesday with more than 12 lakh vaccine doses being administered till 7 pm, the ministry said, adding that the daily vaccination tally is expected to go up with the compilation of the final reports by late night.

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India began administering the precaution doses of the vaccines to all aged above 18 years at private vaccination centres from Sunday.

Those above the age of 18 and who have completed nine months since the administration of the second dose of the vaccine are eligible to receive the precaution dose.

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More than 2.36 crore vaccine doses have been administered in the 12-14 years age group so far.

Over 2.49 crore precaution doses have been administered to healthcare workers, frontline workers and those aged 60 and above so far.

The countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16 last year with healthcare workers getting inoculated in the first phase. The vaccination of frontline workers started from 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 co-morbid conditions.

India launched vaccination for all people aged more than 45 years from April 1 last year. The Centre then decided to expand the 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 vaccination commenced from January 3 this year for adolescents in the age group of 15-18 years.

The country began administering precaution doses to healthcare and frontline workers and those aged 60 and above with comorbidities from January 10.

(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)