As India Battles a Second Wave of Covid-19, Govt Allows Vaccines for All Those Above 45 from April 1

The government on Tuesday decided to open up vaccination against coronavirus for everybody above 45 years of age from April 1. Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said, “It has been decided that from April 1, the vaccination drive will open for everybody above 45 years of age. We request that all eligible should immediately register and get vaccinated.” Speaking about a decision on the matter taken by the Cabinet, Javadekar said there are enough vaccines and there should not be any concern regarding its availibility.

The vaccination drive in India started on January 16 with healthcare workers after which frontline workers were inoculated from February 2. The next phase of vaccination was opened up on March 1 for people above 60 years of age and for those aged 45 and above with specified co-morbid conditions.

People would no longer have to produce a certificate of co-morbidity to receive a shot. Registration on Co-Win for beneficiaries above 45 years will begin from April 1, health officials told News18.

Till date, around 6.5 per cent of COVID-19 vaccines doses have gone to waste and the move is expected to reduce wastage in the country, according to medical experts.

The move also comes at a time when India is seeing a resurgence in cases, with the daily rise staying above 30,000 since a week, making India the third worst-affected country in the world. The number of cases with the UK, South Africa and Brazil variants of the virus across the country has jumped to 795.

The highest single-day vaccination of more than 32.53 lakh doses were administered on March 22, taking the total number of people inoculated to nearly 5 crore.

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