2.6 cr adults have not taken even one Covid shot: Government

New Delhi, April 5

India is inching closer to full Covid-19 vaccine coverage of its adults with the government on Tuesday informing the Rajya Sabha that 84.4 per cent of the adult population had been fully jabbed as of March 30, with the numbers rising daily. However, as many as 2.6 crore eligible adults have so far not taken even a single shot of the Covid vaccine.

Minister of State for Health Bharati Pawar shared the above information with the Rajya Sabha today. She said 97 per cent of all doses administered as of March 30 this year have been free of cost.

“As on March 30, 2022, a total of 79.28 crore (84.4 per cent) beneficiaries aged 18 years and above have received both doses of Covid-19 vaccines and 167.14 crore doses (97 per cent of total dose administered) have been administered free of charge to eligible beneficiaries aged 18 years and above. An estimated 2.6 crore (2.8 per cent) eligible beneficiaries above 18 years of age have not taken even a single dose of vaccine,” the minister said.

As on March 30, against the estimated population of about 7.4 crore beneficiaries aged 15-18 years, 5.7 crore (77 per cent) have received at least one dose, 3.77 crore (51 per cent) beneficiaries have received both doses of vaccine.