Covid vaccination for all over 18 from May 1
NEW DELHI/JAIPUR: Everyone above 18 years of age will be eligible to get vaccinated against Covid-19 from May 1, the Centre said on Monday, as it liberalised the vaccination drive to allow states, private hospitals and industrial establishments to procure the doses directly from manufacturers.
The move assumes significance as Covid-19 cases have been surging at record highs, inundating hospitals and triggering a shortage in critical medical supplies.
The decision on a liberalised and accelerated Phase 3 strategy of Covid-19 vaccination was taken at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Prime Minister said that the government has been working hard from over a year to ensure that maximum numbers of Indians are able to get the vaccine in the shortest possible of time.
Under the third phase of the vaccination drive commencing next month, the vaccine manufacturers would supply 50% of their monthly Central Drugs Laboratory (CDL) released doses to the central government and would be free to supply the remaining 50% doses to state governments and in the open market.
Manufacturers would have to make an advance declaration of the price for 50% supply that would be available to the state governments and in the open market before May 1, an official statement said.
Based on this price, state governments, private hospitals, industrial establishments, etc, would be able to procure vaccine doses from the manufacturers.
Private hospitals would have to procure their supplies of Covid-19 vaccine exclusively from the 50% supply earmarked for entities other than those coming through the central government channel.
The private vaccination providers would need to transparently declare their self-set vaccination price and the eligibility through this channel would be opened up to all adults, that is everyone above the age of 18, the statement added.
Vaccination will continue as before in the Government of India vaccination centres free of cost to the eligible population -health care and frontline workers and all people above 45 years of age.
“Prime Minister said that the government has been working hard for over a year to ensure that maximum numbers of Indians are able to get the vaccine in the shortest possible of time. He added that India is vaccinating people at world record pace and we will continue this with even greater momentum,”
the Union health ministry said in a statement.
Last week, the Centre authorised the emergency use of Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine -- the third to be given approval after Oxford University-AstraZeneca’s Covishield, being manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, and Covaxin, which
was developed by Bharat Biotech. The government said it would also fast-track approval of vaccines not made in India.
Meanwhile, the Centre is set to accept the Serum Institute’s request for a ₹3,000 crore grant to boost its capacity to make the vaccine, news agency Reuters quoting government officials with knowledge of the matter said.
SII, the world’s biggest vaccine maker, sought the funds to increase its monthly capacity to more than 100 million doses by the end of May, from up to 70 million currently.
“We are clear that we will give whatever support is necessary to develop and boost the availability of vaccines in the country,” the official said.
India has administered more than 112 million doses of the Covishield so far, the most in the world, despite concerns about some people overseas developing blood clots after receiving the vaccine.
Since starting its immunisation campaign in mid-January, it has injected a total of 123 million vaccine doses, including nearly 11 million of a domestically developed Covaxin.