Covid vaccination for teenagers: These 5 states have administered most shots so far

A total of 40,80,263 people aged between 15 and 17 took the Covid-19 vaccine shots in the last 24 hours, following which the country's cumulative coverage among the age bracket touched 1,27,60,148, according to Union health ministry.

More than 1 crore individuals aged 15-17 have been inoculated with the first dose of Covid-19 vaccines in India so far, according to data released by the Union ministry of health and family welfare. The figures are the latest update to the drive that was launched three days before on January 3.

Bharat Biotech's indigenous vaccine Covaxin is being administered to those aged 15-17 at the moment. (Deepak Gupta/HT Photo)

As many as 40,80,263 teenagers were administered the vaccine jabs in the last 24 hours. Following the latest additions, the overall vaccination coverage among 15-17 year olds in the country has reached 1,27,60,148.

The achievement was appreciated by Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya after he took to Twitter on Wednesday to laud the “superb enthusiasm among young India” to get vaccinated.

Since the start of the drive, some states have given the vaccine doses to more than one lakh teens while there are some that have administered over 10 lakh individuals aged 15-17 with the shots.

Here are top five states that have administered the most Covid-19 vaccine shots to 15-17 year olds:

1. Madhya Pradesh (16,52,309)

2. Gujarat (13,63,147)

3. Andhra Pradesh (13,02,027)

4. Rajasthan (11,82,158)

5. Karnataka (11,21,569)

This development is especially important at a time the country is combatting the highly infectious Omicron variant, which was first discovered in South Africa and has been classified as a “variant of concern” by the World Health Organisation (WHO). So far, India has confirmed 2,630 cases of the new strain, with Maharashtra and Delhi remaining the most-affected by it.

Furthermore, India has been witnessing high single-day Covid-19 cases for the last few weeks amid the Omicron outbreak. On Thursday, the country logged a whopping 90,928 new cases, up from 58,097 on the preceding day, which is a jump of 56.5 per cent in 24 hours.