New Delhi: Those above 18 are now eligible to get the Covid vaccine from May 1, the government announced on Monday after the Prime Minister...
New Delhi: Those above 18 are now eligible to get the Covid vaccine from May 1, the government announced on Monday after the Prime Minister held a series of meetings. All adults will be vaccinated and states can buy vaccines directly from makers in the "liberalised and accelerated Phase 3 strategy of Covid-19 vaccination", the Centre said.
India started inoculating people in January using Serum Institute of
India's Covishield and Bharat Biotech's Covaxin. Till now, the government had allowed vaccinations only for
health workers, frontline workers and those above 45 in a centrally controlled
process.
States like Maharashtra, Delhi and Punjab have been calling to open up
vaccinations amidst complaints of about running out of vaccine stocks even as
the country clocked over two lakh cases daily in the past few days.
In his meetings on Monday, Narendra
Modi stressed that vaccination was "the biggest weapon" in the fight
against the Coronavirus and urged doctors to encourage more and more patients
to get vaccinated.
Pricing, procurement, eligibility and administering of vaccines will be flexible in the latest round. Vaccine manufacturers have been asked to scale up their production and release up to 50 per cent of their supply to states and in the open market at a declared price. States can now get additional vaccine doses from the manufacturers directly.
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