India has administered 900 million Covid-19 vaccines so far, Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Saturday. This landmark number assumes significance as the government is aiming to vaccinate every adult individual by December 2021.
The countrywide vaccination drive rolled out on January 16, with healthcare workers (HCWs) getting inoculated in the first phase. The vaccination of frontline workers (FLWs) started on February 2.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the first phase of the nationwide Covid-19 vaccination drive on January 16 via video conferencing.
To ramp up the pace of vaccination, the government introduced the ‘new phase of universalization’ of Covid-19 vaccination on June 21, 2021. Under this drive, the Centre is procuring and supplying free of cost 75 percent of the vaccines being produced by the vaccine manufacturers in the country to states and UTs.
The next phase of Covid-19 vaccination commenced from March 1 for people over 60 years and those aged 45 and above with specified co-morbid conditions.
