90% of adult population in India are fully vaccinated: Govt

New Delhi, July 4: In a major achievement, India achieved complete vaccination of 90% of its adult population, Union Health Minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya on Monday announced.

He tweeted, "What an extraordinary feat! With PM @NarendraModi Ji's mantra of Sabka Saath, Sabka Prayas, India achieves complete vaccination of 90% of its adult population.
Way to go! We will win the battle against the pandemic together! [sic]"

India's COVID-19 vaccination coverage has exceeded 197.98 Cr (1,97,98,21,197) as per provisional reports till 7 am today and it has been achieved through 2,58,55,578 sessions, the government data said.

COVID-19 vaccination for the age group 12-14 years was started on 16 March, 2022. So far, more than 3.69 Cr (3,69,12,764) 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.

The countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16, 2021 with healthcare workers getting inoculated in the first phase. Vaccination of frontline workers started from February 2, 2021.

The next phase of COVID-19 vaccination commenced on March 1, 2021, for people over 60 years of age and those aged 45 and above with specified comorbid conditions.

India launched vaccination for all people aged more than 45 years from April 1, 2021.

The government then decided to expand its vaccination drive by allowing everyone above 18 years of age to be inoculated against the viral disease from May 1, 2021. The next phase of vaccination commenced from January 3, 2022, for adolescents in the age group of 15-18 years.

India began administering precaution doses of vaccines to healthcare and frontline workers and those aged 60 and above with comorbidities from January 10, 2022.

The country began inoculating children aged 12-14 from March 16, 2022, and also removed the comorbidity clause, making all people aged above 60 eligible for the precaution dose of Covid vaccine.

Meanwhile, India reported 16,135 new COVID-19 in the last 24 hours with 24 deaths and 13,958 people recuperated from the illness.