Over 68 crore doses administered in India so far: Govt
New Delhi: The cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country has crossed 68 crore with more than 62.25 lakh jabs administered Saturday, the health ministry said.
The daily tally is expected to increase further as the 7 pm provisional report gets updated with the compilation of the final numbers for the day by late night, the ministry said.
Cumulatively, 26,99,02,315 first doses have been administered to individuals in the 18-44 age group across states and union territories and 3,35,98,191 second doses in the same age group since the start of phase-3 of the vaccination drive on May 1, according to the data.
The ministry further said that cumulatively 52,38,12,268 first doses have been administered while 15,99,16,790 second doses have been given.
On Saturday, 62,25,922 doses were administered, pushing the overall coverage to 68 crore (68, 37, 29,058), the ministry said.
The vaccination exercise as a tool to protect the most vulnerable population groups in the country from COVID-19 continues to be regularly reviewed and monitored at the highest level, the ministry underlined.
Meanwhile, more than 66.07 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses have so far been provided to states and Union territories by the Centre for free and under the direct state procurement category, the Union health ministry said.
It also said that more than 4.49 crore (4,49,68,620) balance and unutilised vaccine doses are still available with the states/UTs.
The Union government is committed to accelerating the pace and expanding the scope of COVID-19 vaccination throughout the country, the ministry said in a statement.
“More than 66.07 crore (66,07,19,455) vaccine doses have been provided to states/UTs so far through (free of cost channel) and through direct state procurement category. Further, more than 85 lakh doses (85,63,780) are in the pipeline,” it said.
The vaccination drive has been ramped up through availability of more vaccines, advance visibility of vaccine availability to states/UTs for enabling better planning by them and streamlining the vaccine supply chain, the statement said.
As part of the nationwide vaccination drive, the Government of India has been supporting the states/UTs by providing them Covid vaccines free of cost.
Under the universalisation of the COVID-19 vaccination drive, the Union government procures and supplies free of cost 75 per cent of the vaccines being produced by vaccine manufacturers in the country to the states and UTs.
Press Trust of India
