Highlights:
- According to Centre, anyone over the age of 18 will be eligible for vaccination, from May 1.
- The announcement was made after a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
- Currently, three vaccines have received Emergency Use Authorization in India.
The Indian government declared a “liberalised and accelerated” Phase 3 strategy of COVID-19 vaccination on Monday in order to speed up the country’s coronavirus vaccination campaign.
According to the government, anyone over the age of 18 is eligible for the Covid-19 vaccine.
The announcement follows a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during which it was stated that the “government has been working hard for over a year to ensure that the maximum number of Indians can get the Covid-19 vaccine in the shortest possible time.”
“India is vaccinating its people at a fast pace,” he said, “and we will maintain this momentum.”
The government stated that vaccine pricing, procurement, eligibility, and administration are all being made more flexible during this process. All stakeholders are granted the freedom to tailor their approaches to local needs.
Even as the number of daily cases surpassed 2.7 lakh, India has administered over 12.38 crore covid doses, prompting states to enforce local lockdowns and weekend curfews.
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Here’s what you need to know about Phase 3 of the Covid-19 vaccination campaign in India:
-Beginning next month, the third phase of the vaccination campaign, the vaccine manufacturers will supply the central government with 50% of their monthly Central Drugs Laboratory (CDL) issued doses and be free to sell the remaining 50% to state governments and in the open market.
-Before May 1, 2021, manufacturers must declare the price for 50% of the supply that will be available to state governments and the open market, according to an official statement.
-State governments, private hospitals, industrial enterprises, and others will be able to purchase vaccine doses from manufacturers at this amount.
-Private hospitals will have to get their COVID-19 vaccine solely from the 50% stock set aside for entities other than those receiving it from the central government.
-Private vaccine providers will be required to announce their self-determined vaccination price in a straightforward manner, and eligibility through this channel would be extended to all adults, or anyone over the age of 18, according to the statement.
-Covid-19 vaccine will continue to be free of cost in GOI vaccination centres for the eligible people, which includes healthcare and frontline staff, as well as people over the age of 45.
-The Centre will distribute vaccines to States/UTs depending on the level of infection (number of active Covid cases) and performance requirements (speed of administration). This criterion would also take into account vaccine waste, which would have a negative impact on the criteria. State-by-state quotas will be determined based on the above requirements and conveyed to the states in a timely manner.
-Second doses will be given priority wherever they are due for all existing priority groups, such as healthcare workers, frontline workers and people over 45, with a consistent and focused approach communicated to all stakeholders.
The country launched a major vaccination campaign against novel coronavirus infection on January 16, 2021, when the country’s drug regulator approved two Covid-19 vaccine candidates.
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Currently, three vaccine candidates have received Emergency Use Authorization: two indigenously manufactured vaccines (Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech), and a third vaccine (Sputnik) that will be manufactured in India which is currently being manufactured abroad.
“India’s approach is driven by scientific and epidemiological pillars, and guided by Global Best Practices, WHO SoPs, and our India’s leading experts in the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for Covid-19 (NEGVAC),” according to an official statement.
On Sunday, the Union health ministry issued an order instructing States and Union territories to ensure that movement restrictions imposed by them to limit novel coronavirus transmission do not jeopardise the covid-19 vaccination campaign by limiting beneficiaries’ access to covid vaccination centres (CVCs).
Meanwhile, India’s Ministry of Health registered 2,73,810 new COVID-19 cases, taking the total number of positive cases in the country to 1,50,61,919. As of Monday, there were 19,29,329 active cases in the country.
A total of 1,78,769 people died, with an additional 1,619 fatalities.
As many as 1,44,178 people in India have recovered from the coronavirus in the last 24 hours. The total number of recoveries from Covid-19 in India now stands at 1,29,53,821.
