To order to boost the coronavirus vaccination drive around the country, the Indian government on Monday announced a “liberalized and accelerated” Phase 3 approach of COVID-19 vaccination from May 1.
Phase 3 vaccination
In this phase 3 vaccination drive everyone above the age of 18 is eligible to get the Covid-19 vaccine, said the government.
The decision comes after a meeting appointed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, where it was seen that the “government has been working hard for over a year to ensure that maximum numbers of Indians can get the vaccine in the shortest possible of time.”
Govt of India announces liberalised & accelerated Phase 3 strategy of COVID-19 vaccination from May 1; everyone above the age of 18 to be eligible to get vaccine pic.twitter.com/7G3WbgTDy8
— ANI (@ANI) April 19, 2021
Previously, the country started vaccinating people in January by applying two Covid vaccines – Astra Zeneca and India Covaxin. Until now, the government had given vaccinations only for frontline workers and those above 45.
“Government has been fighting hard for over a year to assure that maximum numbers of Indians can get the vaccine in the smallest possible of time,” PM Modi said.
Today, the Health Ministry reported that India recorded 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 are 19,29,329 active cases in the country.
The demise numbers touched 1,78,769 with additional 1,619 fatalities.
Whereas, in one full day, as many as 1,44,178 people recovered from the virus. And now, the total number of recoveries reached 1,29,53,821 in India.
Phase 3 vaccination rules
Here are key points in the expanded vaccination rules:
- Vaccine manufacturers will supply 50 percent of their monthly Central Drugs Laboratory (CDL) released doses to the central government and will be free to supply the remaining 50% doses to state governments and in the open market.
- Manufacturers will declaration prices in advance for the vaccines supplied to state governments and in the open market.
- With the prices, state governments, private hospitals, industrial establishments can now purchase vaccine doses from the manufacturers.
- Vaccinations at central government centers provided free of cost, will continue for previous categories – health workers, frontline workers, and those above 45.
- The govt. will designate vaccines from its share to States or Union Territories based on the number of cases. The wastage of Vaccines can affect the quota of a state.
- The second dose for existing priority groups will be a priority.
Govt of India, from its share, will allocate vaccines to States/UTs based on criteria of extent of infection (number of active COVID cases) & performance (speed of administration). Wastage of vaccine will also be considered in this criteria & will affect criteria negatively: Govt pic.twitter.com/jVmzG5nKuf
— ANI (@ANI) April 19, 2021
In this phase 3 vaccination drive, the National Vaccine Strategy aims at improved vaccine pricing and sizing up of vaccine coverage. This would increase vaccine production as well as availability, incentivizing vaccine manufacturers to rapidly ramp up their production as well as attract new vaccine manufacturers, domestic and international. It would also make pricing, procurement, eligibility, and administration of vaccines open and flexible, allowing all stakeholders the flexibility to customize to local needs and dynamics.
Source: NDTV
