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Covid-19 vaccination: Key meeting likely today on future course of efforts

More than 2.24 lakh people have been vaccinated against the disease till now, which has infected more than 10.5 million people in the country and claimed at least 150,000 lives.

Published on: Jan 18, 2021, 06:52:39 IST
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India could see more efforts to vaccinate its population against the coronavirus disease as the government plans on holding a meeting with representatives of pharmaceutical industries and other stakeholders on Monday, news agency ANI reported.

An Indian woman carrying a child crosses a road on a cold day in Jammu, India Sunday, January 17, 2021 (AP)
An Indian woman carrying a child crosses a road on a cold day in Jammu, India Sunday, January 17, 2021 (AP)

The government officials are likely to hold a meeting with representatives of pharmaceutical industries along with other stakeholders to discuss the subsequent course of vaccination drive in the country, the report added.

More than 2.24 lakh people have been vaccinated against the disease till now, which has infected more than 10.5 million people in the country and claimed at least 150,000 lives.

The government has kept a tab on the ongoing inoculation drive with all states and union territories to review progress, identify bottlenecks and planned corrective actions, the ministry said.

Plans drawn up by India’s health ministry outline steps to vaccinate 300 million people in the first stage.

In the initial round, 30 million health care and frontline workers - such as the police and defense forces - will be administered the injections. The second phase is targeted at about 270 million people above the age of 50 and those at particular risk to Covid. The process will draw on existing networks used to vaccinate tens of millions of babies each year against diseases such as polio.

The Union health ministry official said that the Centre has advised states to keep vaccination sessions four days in a week to avoid disruption of routine health services.

While all states participated in the Covid-19 vaccination drive on Saturday, only six states did so on Sunday. In all, 17,072 more health care workers were vaccinated on Sunday at 553 sites.

The six that conducted vaccinations on Sunday are Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Manipur and Tamil Nadu.

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