India is ramping up its vaccination drive as the number of cases are on the rise again and the next set of beneficiaries will be high priority groups over 50 years of age, according to a report.
In the first phase, healthcare workers and frontline workers were given the Covid-19 vaccine.
In the following phase, those above 60 years of age and those aged above 45 with specific comorbidities were targeted. Next in line are individuals above 50 years of age and those with comorbidities. This is according to the priority groups drawn up by the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for Covid-19 (NEGVAC).
A senior government official told Hindustan Times that demarcation of groups was done at the start of the drive, highlighting that vaccinating 1.3 billion people simultaneously is not feasible.
“The government had to prioritise. Health care and frontline workers were a top priority as this category is directly involved in Covid-19 management and is at maximum risk. Now that it has opened for the general population, which is a larger number, the age group has been further sub-divided.”
The 'above 50' category had been subdivided for feasibility, into 60+ group and in the specified comorbid group aged between 45-59 years, upon recommendation from NEGVAC.
“Now that there has been a sharp vaccination scale up over the past few days, it is being deliberated to also open up the next category in line, which is above 50. NEGVAC recommended including 50 plus population group also, and the process could start soon as the capacity is clearly in place,” the official is quoted as saying.
On Tuesday, the Health Ministry had announced that at least 2 million doses of vaccine were administered across India, making it the highest daily count in the drive so far.
India recorded 22,854 cases of coronavirus infection in a day, the highest in around two-and-half-months, taking the total tally of Covid-19 cases to 1,12,85,561. This is the first time in this year that the country saw a daily Covid-19 spike of over 22,000 cases.
Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu continue to report a high number of fresh Covid-19 cases and together account for 85.91 per cent of the new cases of the coronavirus infection reported in the country.
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