Over 5 crore youth between 15-18 age group inoculated with first dose of Covid-19 vaccine: Union Health Minister

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Tuesday informed that over 5 crore youngsters between ages 15 and 18 have been administered the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccination.

"Congratulations to the youth power. More than 5 crore youth in the age group of 15-18 got the first dose of the vaccine," Mandaviya tweeted.

Applauding the young generation of the country, the health minister said that young India is fighting the pandemic with full vigour.

India's vaccination drive against Covid-19 achieved another milestone as it crossed the 170 crore mark on Monday. As per the government CoWIN portal, India has administered over 170 crore of vaccine doses so far that including over 95 crore of first doses, over 73 crore as second shots and over 1.45 crore precaution doses.

The vaccination for the 15-18 years age group began on 3 January 2022 after Prime Minister Narendra Modi made the announcement on 25 December.

Meanwhile, India recorded 67,597 new cases in the last 24 hours on Tuesday, continuing the trend of under 1 lakh fresh daily infections on the second consecutive day.

Earlier on Monday, talking about the critical role of vaccines in public health while launching Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) 4.0 virtually, Mandaviya highlighted the achievements of the country-wide COVID-19 vaccination drive under which around 170 crore doses of vaccines have been administered.