Veterans’ inoculation to begin next week
NEW DELHI: Military veterans and their dependents eligible under government guidelines will have the option to get vaccinated against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) at service hospitals starting next week, the Indian Army said on Saturday.
“Approval of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for vaccination of veterans (includes their dependents) and dependents of Armed Forces personnel in Service hospitals has been received,” the army tweeted.
There are more than 3.2 million ex-servicemen (ESM) in the country, and many of them have been waiting to get vaccinated at service hospitals. Their dependents include spouses, sons (till the age of 25 or when they start earning, whichever is earlier), unmarried/divorced daughters, parents with monthly income of less than ₹9,000 and special children for life.
The number of dependents is around 2.3 million, but only those who meet the eligibility criteria will be able to get the shots at service hospitals, said people familiar with ESM issues.
The same applies to dependents of serving military personnel.
Citizens above 60 years of age and those above 45 suffering from comorbidities are being covered during the current phase of vaccination. The vaccination drive for eligible veterans will kick off at service hospitals next week. “The process is likely to commence next week after completion of registration of Armed Forces medical facilities on CO-WIN Platform. Guidelines for the same will be issued in a few days,” the army said.
Some veterans -- aged over 60 or 45 with comorbidities -- have already got themselves vaccinated at government approved centres after the drive for general public began on March 1.
Roughly 20,000 centres currently being used for the vaccine drive are hospitals, private as well as public, while many primary and secondary health centres at present are kept out of the programme.
The government is planning to more than double the number of coronavirus vaccination centres and reach deeper into rural parts of the country, as reported by HT on Saturday.