Amid rising COVID-19 cases in India, the Union Health Ministry on Thursday said that COVID-19 vaccination will be carried out at both public and private sector Vaccination Centres (CVCs) on all days of April.
The Centre has also written to all states and union territories (UTs) and asked them to make necessary arrangements to provide for vaccination at the CVCs on all days of the month including gazetted holidays.
"This step has been taken after detailed deliberations with the states and UTs on March 31 to optimally utilise all COVID-19 Vaccination Centres across the public and private sectors to ensure rapid increase in the pace and coverage of COVID vaccination," read an official statement.
"This decision is in line with the graded and pro-active approach employed by the government of India along with the states and UTs for COVID-19 vaccination," the ministry said.
It also highlighted that the vaccination exercise continues to be regularly reviewed and monitored at the highest level.
The government opened up the COVID-19 vaccination drive to include everybody above 45 years of age on April 1 based on a recommendation of the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration (NEGVAC).
A countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16 with healthcare workers (HCWs) getting inoculated first, and vaccination of frontline workers (FLWs) started from February 2.
The next phase of COVID-19 vaccination commenced on March 1 to cover people above 60 and those in the age group of 45-59 but with specified co-morbid conditions.
According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, a total of 6,87,89,138 people have been vaccinated across the country till now.
(With inputs from Agencies)