You must be thinking the news drive may bring a bit of change but there is nothing like that, Vaccinations are on and will continue as before in the government of India vaccination centres free of cost to the eligible population – healthcare and frontline workers and all people above 45 years of age. Right now, there are specific criteria for vaccination but slowly, the government is extending the range.
More people will be covered under the ongoing nationwide Covid-19 vaccination program, which started on January 16. There has been demand from all experts and states badly affected by the coronavirus disease. Amid the ongoing surge in the number of daily cases, leaders and chief ministers of Maharashtra and Delhi had urged PM Modi to relax the age restriction or administer the COVID-19 vaccine. From May 1, everyone above the age of 18 will become eligible for COVID-19 vaccines.
India started the world’s largest vaccination drive with two vaccines – Covishield and Covaxin. Earlier this month, Russia’s Sputnik V was given emergency use authorization by India’s drug regulator. Under the third phase of the vaccination drive beginning next month, the vaccine manufacturers would supply 50 per cent of their monthly Central Drugs Laboratory (CDL) released doses to the central government and would be free to supply the remaining 50 per cent doses to state governments and in the open market.
Manufacturers would have to make an advance declaration of the price for 50 per cent supply that would be available to the state governments and in the open market before May 1, 2021. Based on this price, state governments, private hospitals, industrial establishments, etc. would be able to procure vaccine doses from the manufacturers.
The government said procurement, eligibility, administration of coronavirus vaccines is being made flexible in Phase 3 of the world’s largest vaccination drive. COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers have been incentivized to further scale up production; attract new national and international players.
Since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic back in March 2020, the virus has claimed millions of lives globally and that kept on increasing until 2021, the second wave was too brutal. Lack of infrastructure has crippled many lives.
The pandemic has wedged almost every corner of life, causing global economies to a kiosk, changing the way we work and interact with our loved ones, and stretching healthcare systems to the limit. Governments around the world have been forced to implement harsh restrictions on human activity to curb the spread of the virus.
