The Union Government has announced that the second phase of COVID-19 vaccination will begin from March 1, 2021.
Highlights
- Under the second phase of covid-19 vaccination, people aged above 60 years will get vaccinated.
- Further, as per the guidelines, those aged above 45 years and are having comorbidities (that means presence of one or more additional conditions that co-occurs with any primary condition) will also be vaccinated under the second phase.
- The beneficiaries can get their vaccination done at the 10,000 government and around 20,000 private vaccination centres across the country.
How much the vaccination cost?
- The vaccinations drive will run free of cost at all the 10,000 government hospitals.
- But beneficiary will require to pay to get their vaccination done across the 20,000 private vaccination centres. The fee for the vaccines is yet to be decided by the health ministry.
Phase 1 of the Covid-19 vaccination
The phase 1 of the covid-19 vaccination drive was started on January 16, 2021. This drive was started across 3006 vaccination centres across the country. The first phase was started to vaccinate only the healthcare workers and frontline workers. Under the phase 1, around 1,26,71,163 people have been vaccinated with the first dose of the vaccine so far under. Out of them, around 14 lakh people have received the second dose as well. The vaccination drives also covered those aged above 50 or are suffering from certain medical conditions.
India’s vaccine capacity
The Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, in January 2021 stated that the vaccine-production capacity of India is the best asset the world has.