Day 1: More than 9 lakh 'precaution doses' of Covid vaccine administered in India

More than 9 lakh healthcare and frontline workers, and 60-plus citizens with comorbidities received their third Covid jab on Monday, the Union Health Ministry said, as the country began administering a "precautionary" dose against the infection.

The cumulative Covid vaccine doses administered in the country crossed 152.78 crore (1,52,78,35,951) with over 82 lakh (82,76,158) doses being administered on Monday (till 7 pm).

Over 82 lakh doses includes 21,49,200 given to the beneficiaries in the 15-18 years age group. The total doses administered to this category of beneficiaries is 2,59,87,741 so far, the ministry said.

The precaution doses are being rolled out as the country witnesses a massive spike in Covid cases.

According to the health ministry data, 4,91,013 precaution dose have been administered to healthcare workers, 1,90,383 to frontline workers and 2,54,868 to the 60-plus population with comorbidities on Monday.

The same Covid vaccine that has been administered in the previous two doses would be given as the precaution dose to these categories of beneficiaries.

The daily vaccination tally is expected to increase with the compilation of the final reports for the day by late night.

The countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16 with healthcare workers (HCWs) getting inoculated in the first phase. The vaccination of frontline workers (FLWs) started from February 2.

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

The country launched vaccination for all people aged more than 45 years from April 1.

The government then decided to expand its vaccination drive by allowing everyone above 18 to be vaccinated from May 1.

The next phase of Covid vaccination has commenced from January 3 for adolescents in the age group of 15-18 years.

India began administering precaution dose of  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.