The nationwide COVID-19 vaccination for people above 45 years of age will start from Thursday.
IMAGE: A woman receives a dose of the coronavirus vaccine at an auditorium, which has been converted into a temporary vaccination centre, in Ahmedabad. Photograph: Amit Dave/Reuters
Rajesh Bhushan, Union health secretary, and Dr R S Sharma, CEO, National Health Authority and Chairperson, Empowered Group on COVID vaccination chaired a high-level meeting to review the status, pace, and issues regarding COVID vaccination across the country as well as the preparations for April when vaccination would be extended to all persons above the age of 45.
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The Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan had on Tuesday announced that from April 1 all people above 45 years will be eligible for vaccination.
According to the health ministry, advance appointments for vaccination can be booked through http://cowin.gov.in, or one can visit their nearest vaccination center after 3 pm and get on-site registration done.
“From April 1 all people above 45 yrs of age will be eligible for vaccination. Advance appointments can be booked through http://cowin.gov.in. If you don’t want to do this, you can go to your nearest vaccination center after 3 pm and go for on-site registration,” Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan had said during a press meet.
He had further stated that those who want to go for on-site registration need to go to their nearest vaccination center after 3 pm with an identity document. The document can be an Aadhaar Card,d voter ID, bank passbook, passport, and ration card.
Meanwhile, the cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country has crossed 6.43 crore today, said the Union health ministry on Wednesday.
A total of 6,43,58,765 vaccine doses have been given, as per the provisional report till 7 pm today, it said.
India started COVID-19 vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16 with two vaccines — Covishield and Covaxin. In the first phase, healthcare workers were administered the vaccine. The vaccination of the Frontline Workers started on February 2.
The next phase of COVID-19 vaccination commenced on March 1 for those who are over 60 years of age and for people aged 45 and above with specified co-morbid conditions.
