Citizens above 60 years to get jab from March 1

New Delhi: The second phase of the vaccination drive in India will begin from March 1 in which people above 60 years of age and those above 45 years of age with comorbidities will be vaccinated, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said on Wednesday.

“The second phase of vaccination from March 1 in which people above 60 years of age and those above 45 years of age with comorbidities will be vaccinated at 10,000 government and over 20,000 private vaccination centres,” Javadekar said.

The second phase of the vaccination will also include Armed Forces officials, police and vulnerable groups.

He added that the coronavirus vaccine will be given free of cost at the government centres.

“Those who want to get vaccinated from private hospitals will have to pay. The amount they would need to pay will be decided by the health ministry within 3-4 days as they are in discussion with manufacturers and hospitals,” stated Javadekar.

Roughly 1,07,67,000 people have been vaccinated against Covid-19 so far in phase-I, which began on January 16, 2021. Among these, around 14 lakh people have even received the second dose. In the first phase of the Covid-19 vaccination, only healthcare and frontline workers were vaccinated.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Union health ministry asked Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir and Chhattisgarh to expedite the vaccination of healthcare and frontline workers so as to confer immunity in the shortest possible time-frame in the wake of a rising trend of Covid-19 cases and positively rate in some districts.