The Union Government on Monday made the much awaited announcement as it stated that everyone above the age of 18 will be eligible to get a vaccine against Covid-19 from May 1. The decision was taken in a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with leading doctors and pharma giants.
Prime Minister Modi 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 time. “India is vaccinating people at world record pace and we will continue this with even greater momentum.”
The third phase of vaccination, which will start on May 1, aims at liberalised vaccine pricing and scaling up of vaccine coverage, a statement released by the government said. Private Vaccination providers have to transparently declare their self-set vaccination price and the eligibility through this channel would be opened up to all adults everyone above the age of 18, it added.
“Under Phase 3 of Covid vaccination strategy, vaccine manufacturers would supply 50 per cent of their monthly Central Drugs Laboratory released doses to the Government of India and would be free to supply the remaining 50 per cent doses to state governments and in the open market,” an official statement from the Centre said.
“The Government of India, from its share, will allocate vaccines to states/UTs based on criteria of the extent of infection (number of active Covid cases) and performance (speed of administration). Wastage of vaccine will also be considered in this criteria and will affect the criteria negatively,” the statement said.
India started its vaccination programme against covid-19 on January 16. The country has so far inoculated 12,38,52,566 people against the virus.
