People above 45 years or Older can get Covid-19 Vaccine from April 1

NEW DELHI: In view of the rising Covid-19 cases, the Union Cabinet has announced that citizens who are 45 years of age or older can be vaccinated from April 1.

Announcing the expansion of the drive Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said, "I appeal to every citizen who is 45 or above to register for vaccination."

Currently, those who are 45 or above with co-morbid conditions were administered the vaccine, however, from April 1 people without comorbidity, can get vaccinated.

The first phase of the vaccination drive rolled out on January 16 with healthcare workers to start with and then frontline workers. On March 1, the second phase prioritized inoculation of people above 60 and those over 45 with other illnesses.

"This decision has been taken by the cabinet on the basis of the advice of the coronavirus Task Force and experts," said Javadekar.

As informed by the Minister a total of 4.85 crore people has received at least one dose of the Covid vaccine and 80 lakh have received the second dose.

Speaking about the Centre's directives to states and Union Territories on the increase in the interval between two doses of Serum Institute of India's Covishield – developed by Oxford-AstraZeneca, Javadekar stated, "The second dose has to be between four to eight weeks. Doctors will decide when it is best to take the second shot."

The Centre on Monday increased the interval between two doses of Covishield to 6-8 weeks following recommendations by the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization and the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for Covid-19. Informing about the updated norm, the Centre wrote to States and Union Territories that it has been found that protection is enhanced if the second dose of Covishield is administered between 6-8 weeks.

India reported 40,715 new Covid-19 cases on Tuesday, taking the overall case tally to 1,16,86,796 according to data from the Health Ministry. There are as many as 3,45,377 active cases in the country at present while 1,11,81,253 people have recovered from the disease.

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