People above 45 yrs to be vaccinated from April 1: Govt

NEW DELHI: Government on Tuesday allowed people above 45 years to get vaccinated against coronavirus from April 1.

“It has been decided that from 1st April, the vaccine will open for everybody above 45 years of age. We request that all eligible should immediately register and get vaccinated,” said Union Minister Prakash Javadekar about the Cabinet decision taken on Tuesday.

There are enough vaccines available and there should not be any concern on their availability, said Javadekar.

As per the advice by scientists and world scientist bodies, 2nd dose can be administered between 4th and 8th week, particularly for Covishield, added Javadekar.
The countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16 with healthcare workers getting inoculated and vaccination of the frontline workers started from February 2.

The next phase of COVID-19 vaccination commenced on March 1 for those who are over 60 years of age and for people aged 45 and above with specified co-morbid conditions.

Meanwhile, more than 32.53 lakh doses of COVID-19 vaccine were administered on March 22, which is the highest single-day vaccination so far, taking the total number of people inoculated to over 4.8 crore.

India’s total active caseload has been rising after touching its lowest mark in mid-February.

It increased to 3.45 lakh (3,45,377) on Tuesday, a net rise of 10,731 cases recorded from the total active caseload in a span of 24 hours.

Three states — Maharashtra, Kerala and Punjab — accounted for 75.15 per cent of total active cases in the country. Maharashtra alone accounted for 62.71 per cent of the total active cases in India.

The doubling time decreased from 504.4 days on March 1 to 202.3 days on March 23.

Over 4.8 crore (4,84,94,594) vaccine doses have been administered through 7,84,612 sessions, as per the provisional report till Tuesday 7 am.

The first dose administration crossed 4 crore mark on Tuesday (4,06,31,153).