The Centre on Thursday directed states to conduct Covid-19 vaccination on all days in April, including gazetted holidays, to cover maximum beneficiaries as it opened the vaccination facility for all individuals in the age group of 45 years and above.
“All Covid vaccination centres (CVCs), both in the public and private sector, should remain open on all days for the entire month of April for the convenience of potential beneficiaries,” the Centre wrote to states. The Centre also asked states on Thursday to make necessary arrangements for the same, aiming to exponentially expand the countrywide vaccination drive.
“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,” announced Union ministry of health and family welfare in a statement issued on Thursday.
“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 statement added.
The vaccination exercise continues to be regularly reviewed and monitored at the highest level.
{{/usCountry}}The vaccination exercise continues to be regularly reviewed and monitored at the highest level.
{{/usCountry}}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).
The nationwide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16, with healthcare workers (HCWs) getting inoculated first, followed by vaccination of frontline workers (FLWs) from February 2.
The next phase of Covid-19 vaccination among age appropriate category started on March 1, to cover individuals above 60, and those between the age group of 45 and 59 years with 20 specified comorbid conditions.
At least 67 million registrations have taken place on the Co-WIN platform, which is the backbone of Covid-19 vaccine delivery management system, of which 1.7 million registrations happened on Thursday alone.
At least 65 million vaccine doses have already been administered, through 1,086,241 sessions, across the country till date.
According to the health ministry, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Punjab, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh continue to show a steep rise in the fresh Covid-19 cases, together accounting for 84.61% of the fresh caseload reported in a day.
While cases are rising, the silver lining being that 15 states and Union Territories have not reported any Covid-19 deaths on Thursday. They include Chandigarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Ladakh, Dadar & Nagar Haveli, Puducherry, Manipur, Tripura, Sikkim, Nagaland, Lakshadweep, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Andaman & Nicobar, and Arunachal Pradesh.
“We have managed to keep the mortality rate low for some time now. Hospitalisations have increased again but thankfully we are losing fewer patients to Covid-19 as compared to other countries,” said Dr GC Khilnani, senior pulmonologist, and former head, pulmonology department, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi.