Nearly 169 crore Covid vaccine doses administered in India, says govt

Nearly 169 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses have so far been administered in the country, the Union health ministry said on Friday.

Over 42 lakh (42,95,142) vaccine doses were administered till 7 pm on Friday, it added.

More than 1.43 crore (1,43,64,484) precaution doses have been administered to healthcare workers (HCWs), frontline workers (FLWs) and those aged 60 years and above, the ministry said.

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

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.

The next phase of Covid vaccination commenced from March 1, 2021 for people aged above 60 years and those aged 45 years and above with specified co-morbid conditions.

The country launched vaccination against the viral disease 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 to be vaccinated 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.

India began administering the precaution dose of Covid vaccines to the HCWs and FLWs, including the personnel deployed on election duty, and those aged 60 years and above with comorbidities from January 10 this year amid a spike in the number of coronavirus cases fuelled by its Omicron variant.