Cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in India crosses 197 crore: Govt

New Delhi: The cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country crossed 197 crore on Saturday, the Union Health Ministry said. More than 11 lakh vaccine doses have been administered till 7 pm on Saturday, 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 1,70,163 precaution doses of COVID-19 vaccine were administered to those aged 18-59 years till 7 pm on Saturday, taking the total precaution doses given in this age group to 48,78,655 so far, according to the Health Ministry data.


So far, over 3.63 crore children in the age group of 12-14 years and over 6.03 crore adolescents in the age group 15-18 years have been administered the first dose.

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 comorbid conditions.

Vaccination for all 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.

India began administering precaution doses of vaccines to healthcare and frontline workers and those aged 60 and above with comorbidities from January 10.

The country began inoculating children aged 12-14 from March 16 and also removed the comorbidity clause making all people aged above 60 eligible for the precaution dose of Covid vaccine.

India on April 10 began administering precaution doses of COVID-19 vaccines to all aged above 18 years.