NEW DELHI: The government on Wednesday announced that people above the age of 60 and those over 45 with comorbidities will be able to receive Covid-19 vaccines from March 1.
Speaking at a media briefing, Union minister
Prakash Javadekar said that the vaccinations will be free of cost at around 10,000 government centres spread across the country.
Vaccines will also be provided at 20,000 private centres but people will have to pay to get inoculated, he added.
"The amount they (beneficiaries) would need to pay will be decided by the
Union health ministry within three to four days as it is in discussion with manufacturers and hospitals," Javadekar said.
The vaccination drive will cover 30 crore priority population till July this year. Healthcare and frontline workers are the first to get inoculated, followed by elderly and people with comorbid conditions.
According to the health ministry, as on February 24, the
vaccination coverage was 1,21,65,598 through 2,54,356 sessions.
These include 64,98,300 HCWs (first dose), 13,98,400 HCWs (second dose) and 42,68,898 FLWs (first dose).
On day-39 of the vaccination drive, 4,20,046 vaccine doses were given. Out of which, 2,79,823 beneficiaries were vaccinated across 9,479 sessions for first dose (HCWs and FLWs) and 1,40,223 HCWs received second dose of vaccine.
The government's announcement comes at a time when at least five states, including Maharashtra and Kerala, are witnessing a fresh surge in infections.
The Union
health ministry on Tuesday asked Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir and Chhattisgarh to expedite the vaccination of healthcare and frontline workers so as to confer immunity in the shortest possible time-frame.