95% of India’s adult population given first dose of Covid vaccine, 74% fully inoculated: Health ministry

New Delhi: Ninety-five percent of India’s eligible adult population has been administered the first dose of the Covid vaccine while 74 percent are fully inoculated, the Union health ministry said on Thursday as the total vaccine doses administered has crossed 164.35 crore. Till 7 pm, 49,69,805 vaccine doses have been administered.

As many as 1,03,04,847 precaution doses have been administered to healthcare and frontline workers and those aged 60 and above with comorbidities.

Also, 4,42,81,254 adolescents in the 15-18 years age group have been given the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

The daily vaccination tally is expected to increase with the compilation of the final reports for the day by late tonight. Meanwhile, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya congratulated the nation for the remarkable achievement.

In a tweet, he said that India has achieved the record of administering the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to more than 95 percent of its eligible population. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, hard work of health workers, and public participation, the country is continuously moving forward in this campaign, he said.

The countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16 last year with healthcare workers getting inoculated in the first phase. India began administering precaution dose of COVID-19 vaccine to healthcare workers, frontline workers including personnel deployed for election duty and those aged 60 and above with comorbidities from January 10 amid the country witnessing a spike in coronavirus infections fuelled by Omicron variant of the virus.