In the second phase of COVID-19 vaccination in India, those above 60 years of age and over 45 with co-morbidities will be able to receive jabs starting March 1. During a media briefing, Union Minister, Prakash Javadekar, stated that these vaccines will be available free of cost across 10,000 government centres in the country. 20,000 private centres will also provide the doses, but people will have to pay for them.
“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 during the briefing.
The minister also asserted that until now, the vaccination in India has been successful, “faultless with hardly any complaints”.
As per reports, the vaccination drive has been planned in a way that 30 crore priority population will be covered until July this year. The first to get the vaccines were frontline workers.
According to a provisional report, till the morning of February 24, the vaccination coverage was 1,21,65,598 through 2,54,356 sessions. Of this, 64,98,300 are healthcare workers who have got the first dose, 13,98,400 healthcare workers who have received the second dose) and 42,68,898 frontline workers (first dose).
*All pictures for representational purposes only.