India close to touch the milestone of 200 crore COVID-19 vaccinations

New Delhi, July 11: The cumulative COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country crossed 199 crore on Wednesday, the Union Health Ministry said. "India’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage has exceeded 199.12 Cr (1,99,12,79,010) as per provisional reports till 7 am today. This has been achieved through 2,61,58,303 sessions," it said.

 

On March 16, the vaccination for the age group started. The Ministry said, "So far, more than 3.76 Cr (3,76,28,293) adolescents have been administered with the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine. Similarly, the COVID-19 precaution dose administration for age group 18-59 years also started from 10th April, 2022 onwards."

 

According to the Ministry, "India’s active caseload currently stands at 1,32,457. Active cases now constitute 0.30% of the country's total Positive Cases. Consequently, India’s recovery rate stands at 98.49%. 15,447 patients have recovered in the last 24 hours and the cumulative tally of recovered patients (since the beginning of the pandemic) is now at 4,30,11,874."

 

 

"16,906 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours. The last 24 hours saw a total of 4,59,302 COVID-19 tests being conducted. India has so far conducted over 86.77 Cr (86,77,69,574) cumulative tests. Weekly Positivity Rate in the country currently stands at 4.26% and the Daily Positivity rate is reported to be 3.68%," it added.

 

The countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16 last year with healthcare workers getting inoculated in the first phase. Vaccination of frontline workers started on 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-19 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 started inoculating children aged 12-14 on March 16 and also removed the comorbidity clause making all people aged above 60 eligible for the precaution dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. India on April 10 began administering precaution doses of COVID-19 vaccines to all aged above 18 years.