India to vaccinate 18+ years from May 1 |
In a landmark announcement on 19th April 2021, the Government of India said all 18 years and above can get COVID-19 vaccines from 1st of May. This counters claims that India was short on vaccine doses. Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a series of meetings over India`s response to record daily surges in COVID cases. The announcement said, “All adults can get Covid shots and states can buy doses directly from vaccine-makers in the liberalized and accelerated Phase 3 strategy of COVID-19 vaccination”. India began the world`s biggest vaccination programme on 16th January 2921, with Serum Institute of India`s Covishield developed by Oxford-AstraZeneca, and, Bharat Biotech`s made-in-India Covaxin. So far, vaccinations was available for health workers, frontline workers, and those above 45 in a centrally-controlled process. In his meetings on 19th April, PM Modi stressed that vaccination was "the biggest weapon" in the fight against Coronavirus and urged doctors to encourage more and more patients to get vaccinated. Modi reportedly said that his government had been working hard for over a year to ensure that maximum numbers of Indians are able to get the vaccine in the shortest possible time. Pricing, procurement, eligibility, and administering of vaccines will be flexible in the latest round of the world`s largest vaccination drive. Vaccine manufacturers have been incentivized to scale up their production and release up to 50 percent of their supply to states and in the open market at a declared price. States can now get additional vaccine doses directly from the manufacturers. Vaccine manufacturers will supply 50 percent of their monthly production to Central Drugs Laboratory (CDL) and will be free to supply the remaining doses to state governments and in the open market. Manufacturers will declare prices in advance for the vaccines supplied to state governments and in the open market.
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