The second phase COVID-19 vaccination drive — for those aged above 60 years and those above 45 years of age with co-morbidities, will begin from March 1. Addressing the media on the Cabinet decisions on Wednesday, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said that the second phase will be held at 10,000 government centres and 20,000 private centres.
The vaccination will be free of cost for those going to government facilities. “The Indian government will pay for them. The Union government will purchase the necessary doses and distribute it to the states,” the Union Minister said. However, the vaccine will not be free for those taking the vaccine from private facilities. They will have to pay for the vaccine. “The amount for the vaccine will be decided and declared by the Health Ministry within three to four days, after discussing with manufacturers and hospitals,” he added.
There are around 10 crore people above the age of 60 in India, Javadekar said.
Till date, 1.7 crore people have been vaccinated in the first phase of vaccinations, where frontline workers and healthcare staff were eligible to get the shot, the minister added. 14 lakh people have been given the second dose as well, he said. The vaccination for the healthcare and front line workers was free of cost.
A total of 1,19,07,392 vaccine doses have been administered through 2,53,434 sessions till 6 pm on Tuesday, according to a provisional report.
The beneficiaries include 64,71,047 healthcare workers (HCWs) who have taken the first dose, 13,21,635 HCWs who have taken the second dose and 41,14,710 frontline workers (FLWs) who have taken the first dose.
While the countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16, the vaccination of FLWs started from February 2.
"A total 1,61,840 vaccine doses were given till 6 pm on Tuesday, the 39th day of nationwide COVID-19 vaccination. Out of which, 98,382 beneficiaries were vaccinated for 1st dose and 63,458 HCWs received 2nd dose of vaccine as per the provisional report," the ministry said, adding that the final reports for the day would be compiled by late night.
A total of 8,557 sessions were conducted till 6 pm on Tuesday.
The ministry said five adverse events following immunisation (AEFIs) related to the first dose and three cases of AEFI related to the second dose of the vaccine were reported till 6 pm on the 39th day of the vaccination drive. The total number of 1,19,07,392 beneficiaries vaccinated includes 5,82,966 from Bihar, 4,68,145 from Kerala, 7,20,392 from Karnataka, 6,75,401 from Madhya Pradesh, 10,03,706 from Maharashtra, 3,41,283 from Delhi, 9,01,400 from Gujarat, 12,26,775 from Uttar Pradesh and 7,60,539 from West Bengal, according to the provisional report.
With PTI inputs