On the first day of the Centre’s 75-day drive to provide free Covid-19 booster shots to those between 18 and 59 age group, a 16-fold jump was recorded as 13.2 lakh doses were administered across the country to this age group.
So far, India had administered around 78 lakh doses of the precaution dose to those below the age of 60 years till Thursday (July 14). The average rate of precaution dose was 81,000 a day in the country since it was made available to the age group on April 10.
Moreover, less than one per cent of the target population of 77.10 crore in the 18-59 age group had been administered the precaution dose.
However, after it was made free, the average rose from 81,000 a day to 13.2 lakh doses on Friday.
As of July 14, Bihar, Delhi and Haryana were the top five states in terms of booster dose vaccination in the 18-59 age group. The states had already made the third dose free for this age group.
Bihar, which administered around 30 lakh doses, alone accounted for 38 percent of the national total while Delhi and Haryana vaccinated over 10 lakh and 6 lakh doses respectively with the third dose.
The centre has been providing free precaution doses to only those above the age of 60 and to health care and frontline workers as well.
The decision to provide free booster doses to all adults came after the Union Health Ministry reduced the duration between the second and third doses from nine to six months.
The “COVID Vaccination Amrit Mahotsav” to provide free precaution doses of the vaccines to everyone aged 18 years and above at government vaccination centres commenced on Friday.
The drive, aimed at boosting the uptake of precaution doses among the eligible population, is being held as part of the government’s “Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav” to celebrate 75 years of the country’s independence. The total number of Covid vaccine doses administered in the country has gone past 199.69 crore.
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