new delhi the total number of covid19 vaccine doses administered in the country crossed 18058 crore on tuesday according to the union health ministrymore than 16 lakh 1654073 vaccine doses were administered till 7 pm on tuesday the ministry saidit said more than 214 crore 21459117 precaution doses for the identified categories of beneficiaries healthcare workers frontline workers and those aged over 60 years have so far been administeredthe daily vaccination tally is expected to go up with the compilation of the final reports by late night it addeda total of 553547330 first doses and 457297088 second doses of the covid vaccines have been administered to individuals in the 1844 age group across the states and union territories since the start of the third phase of the vaccination drive according to the ministrys datathe ministry further said that cumulatively 967578087 first doses and 816793298 second doses of the vaccines have been administeredindias covid19 vaccination coverage has crossed 18058 crore 1805830502 it saidin the 1518 age group 56032467 first doses and 34687314 second doses have been administeredmore than 21459117 precaution doses have been administered to the identified categories of beneficiariesthe countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on january 16 last year with the healthcare workers hcws getting inoculated in the first phase the vaccination of the frontline workers flws started from february 2 last yearthe next phase of covid19 vaccination commenced from march 1 last year for people over 60 years of age and those aged 45 and above with specified comorbid conditions the country launched vaccination for all people aged more than 45 years from april 1 last yearthe government then decided to expand its vaccination drive by allowing everyone above 18 years of age to be inoculated against the viral disease from may 1 last yearthe next phase of covid vaccination commenced from january 3 this year for adolescents in the age group of 1518 yearsindia began administering precaution doses of the vaccines to the hcws the flws including the personnel deployed on election duty and those aged 60 and above with comorbidities from january 10 this year amid a spike in the number of coronavirus cases fuelled by its omicron variant