Over 34 lakh eligible adolescents given second dose of COVID-19 vaccine: Govt

New Delhi, Feb 4 (PTI) Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Friday said 65 per cent of the adolescents in the 15-18 age group nationwide have received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine.

"Young India's historic effort continues...In just 1 month, 65% of children aged 15-18 received the first dose of the vaccine. World's largest vaccination campaign is creating new records under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi," he tweeted.

According to Union Health Ministry officials, 34.90 lakh eligible adolescents have been given the second dose.

With the administration of more than 55 lakh vaccine doses in the last 24 hours, India's COVID-19 vaccination coverage has exceeded 168.47 crore as per provisional reports till 7 am.

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

The next phase of COVID-19 vaccination commenced from March 1 last year 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 last year.

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

The next phase of COVID-19 vaccination has commenced from January 3 this year for adolescents in the age group of 15-18 years.

India began administering precaution dose of COVID-19 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 the Omicron variant of the virus. PTI PLB DV DV