new delhi nearly 89 crore covid19 vaccine doses have so far been administered in the country the union health ministry said on thursdaymore than 58 lakh vaccine doses were administered on thursday till 7 pmthe daily vaccination tally is expected to increase with the compilation of the final reports for the day by late night the ministry saidaccording to the ministrys data a total of 649828333 first doses and 239786150 second doses of the vaccine have been administered across the countrythe vaccination exercise as a tool to protect the most vulnerable population groups in the country from covid19 continues to be regularly reviewed and monitored at the highest level the ministry underlinedthe countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on january 16 with the healthcare workers hcws getting inoculated in the first phase the vaccination of the frontline workers flws started from february 2the next phase of covid19 vaccination commenced from march 1 for people over 60 years of age and those aged 45 years and above with specified comorbid conditionsthe country launched vaccination for all people aged above 45 years from april 1the government then decided to expand its vaccination drive by allowing everyone above 18 years of age to be vaccinated from may 1