New vaccine policy to be rolled out today

NEW DELHI: India will begin universal vaccination against Covid-19 on Monday, following the Centre’s decision to give free vaccines to the states for the 18-45 years category from June 21, a move that is expected to help in scaling up daily vaccination numbers.

The aim of the government is to vaccinate all adults in the country against Covid-19 by the end of this year.

“As announced by Prime Minister Modi, the central government will be funding vaccination of the 18-45 years category also. The Centre will be procuring 75% of the total overall Covid-19 vaccine supplies, and distribute it among states for free to vaccinate all adults. More vaccine supplies are in the pipeline than before and the companies are also ramping up production; therefore, there should be no problem in covering the target population,” said a senior central government official aware of the matter, on condition of anonymity.