COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker: 6.8 lakh people in India get jabbed on May 9, over 17 crore shots administered so far

India rolled out the third phase of its COVID-19 vaccination drive for those in the 18-45 age group on May 1. (Representative image)

More than 6.89 lakh COVID-19 vaccine doses were administered in India on May 9, according to the Union Health Ministry's latest provisional report.

With that, over 17.01 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered across the country so far. On May 9, 4.05 lakh beneficiaries received their first shot and 2.84 lakh people were given their second dose. This included healthcare and frontline workers, people aged over 60 and beneficiaries above the age of 45 with or without comorbidities.

The government had earlier revised the gap between the two doses for the Oxford-AstraZeneca's Covishield, being manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, to six-eight weeks. However, the interval for the second dose of Bharat Biotech's Covaxin remains unchanged.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the nationwide vaccination drive on January 16, with healthcare workers at the frontline of India's COVID-19 battle getting their first jabs.

The country began the second phase of the vaccination drive from March 1 in which everyone above 60 years of age and those over 45 years with comorbidities could start getting the vaccine.

From April 1, vaccination was opened for everyone above the age of 45 with or without comorbidities.

The country rolled out the third phase of its COVID-19 vaccination drive for those in the 18-45 age group on May 1. The central government has liberalised the vaccination drive to allow states, private hospitals and industrial establishments to procure the doses directly from manufacturers.

Registration on CoWIN platform for the third phase began on April 28.

Here are key developments related to the COVID-19 vaccination process:

> Construction workers will be covered in the first phase of the coronavirus vaccination drive for those aged 18 and above, said state Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu on May 9.

> COVID-19 vaccines for people in the 18-44 age group in Bengaluru, which has almost half the number of cases and deaths in Karnataka, would be available from May 10 at all major hospitals and medical colleges, Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar said on the day.

> Getting people vaccinated is the only long-term solution to the current COVID-19 crisis in India, America's top public health expert Dr Anthony Fauci said on the day as he called for scaling up manufacturing of coronavirus vaccines both domestically and globally to fight the deadly pandemic.

> Minister of State for Finance Anurag Singh Thakur said on the day that the government has provided 17.56 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses so far to states and union territories for inoculation of people of all age groups and 46 lakh doses will be supplied to them in the next three days. Thakur's remarks came in response to senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge's letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to use Rs 35,000 crore allocated in the Union Budget to ensure free vaccine for all citizens instead of the current system of multiple pricing for various users.

> Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has virtually ruled out exempting COVID vaccines, medicines and oxygen concentrators from GST, saying such an exemption will make the lifesaving items costlier for consumers as manufacturers will not be able to offset the taxes paid on inputs.

> A controversy has erupted in Uttarakhand over a BJP MLA's 25-year-old son getting the anti-coronavirus vaccine jab despite the fact that inoculation of people in his age group is yet to begin in the state.

> Filmmaker Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra and actor-producer Arbaaz Khan received their dose of the COVID-19 vaccine on the day.

Here are the vaccination counts:

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