Covid-19 vaccine: Around 9,500 precaution doses administered on Day 1, pace remains slow in Delhi

To get a head start on combating the fourth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in India, the Union Health Ministry decided to start administering precaution doses to all adults from April 10. However, the pace of administering the vaccines remained slow on the first day.

According to official data, nearly 9,500 precaution doses were administered on the first day of the rollout across the nation, which is slow as compared to the pace of vaccination of the first two doses in India, which has not surpassed 185 crores in India.

The Union Health Ministry announced that a total of 9,674 precaution doses of Covid-19 vaccines were administered in the 18-59 years age group on the first day on Sunday taking the cumulative doses given in the country to 185.74 crores.

India on Sunday began administering precaution doses of Covid-19 vaccines to all aged above 18 years at private vaccination centres. All those above the age of 18 who have completed nine months after the administration of the second dose are eligible for the precaution dose.

Meanwhile, administering of precaution dose of Covid-19 vaccines began in Delhi on Sunday amid a steady rise in daily case count in the last few days here, even as the pace was sluggish with a few private vaccination centres starting the exercise.

While Fortis Healthcare group has started administering the dose, Apollo Hospital had said on Saturday that it would begin vaccinating people from April 11. Authorities running other big Covid Vaccination Centres (CVCs), like those at Max Healthcare, said they are expected to begin from tomorrow, as per PTI reports.

"Yes, we began the administering of the booster dose this morning. About 60 beneficiaries have already received it, most of whom came through the walk-in procedure. About 130 had registered by afternoon," Director Star Imaging and Path Labs Dr Samir Bhati told PTI.

READ | Is booster dose effective against the Covid XE variant?

The Centre had announced earlier that the administration of precaution doses will be open to all adults who have received the first two doses of the vaccine across the country. The Health Ministry has said that the first two doses of the vaccine should be the same as the precaution dose.

Vaccine majors Serum Institute of India (SII) and Bharat Biotech on Saturday had said they have decided to cut prices of the precaution dose of their respective Covid-19 vaccines - Covishield and Covaxin - to Rs 225 per shot for private hospitals after discussions with the government.

(With PTI inputs)