All adults above the age of 18 will be vaccinated in a “liberalised and accelerated Phase 3 strategy of Covid-19 vaccination” starting from May 1, said government on Monday when the country reported a rise of 2.73 lakh cases in a single day spike.
This comes after the Prime Minister Narendra Modified held a series of meetings in a view of rising Covid cases in the country.
States can now buy the vaccine vials directly from the vaccine-makers, said the government.
India has been vaccinating beneficiaries with two vaccines — Serum Institute’s Covidshield and indigenously produced Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin. So far only the frontline workers, health workers and those above the age 45 were being vaccinated.
“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 of time,” said PM Modi.
The key functionalities in the phase 3 of the vaccination drive that are Pricing, procurement, eligibility and administering of vaccines will be much more flexible.
The government has also given incentives to the vaccine producers to ramp up their productions and supply at least 50 per cent of their prodution to states on an open price.
With the vaccination drive being on slow pace than expected and the country reporting more than 2 lakh cases everyday the government has starting approving all the vaccines which are cleared for use in other countries.
