Over 172 crore Covid vaccine doses administered in India: Govt

New Delhi, Feb 11 (PTI) The cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country crossed 172 crore on Friday, according to the Union health ministry.

More than 42 lakh (42,67,532) vaccine doses were administered till 7 pm on Friday, the ministry said, adding that the daily vaccination tally is expected to go up with the compilation of the final reports by late night.

More than 1.68 crore (1,68,47,437) precaution doses of the vaccines have so far been administered to healthcare workers (HCWs), frontline workers (FLWs) and those aged 60 years and above with comorbidities.

The countrywide vaccination drive against the viral disease 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 from March 1 last year for people over 60 years of age and those aged 45 years and above with specified co-morbid conditions.

The country launched vaccination 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 aged above 18 years 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.

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