Vaccination for people above 45 years of age from April 1: Prakash Javadekar

Vaccination for people above 45 years of age from April 1: Prakash Javadekar Said that the Cabinet has approved vaccination for people above 45 years to being from April 1.

"I urge all above the age of 45 to register and get themselves vaccinated from April 1. There are enough vaccines available and there should not be any concern on this," the union minister Prakash Javadekar said.

As per the advice by scientists & world scientist bodies, 2nd dose can be administered b/w 4th & 8th week, particularly for COVISHIELD. We appeal that all above 45 should take vaccine as early as possible that will provide them shield against Corona: Union Minister P Javadekar pic.twitter.com/K08tysFgFz

— ANI (@ANI) March 23, 2021

India has vaccinated 4.85 crore people so far the minister revealed. “In the last 24 hours, 32.54 people got vaccines. In February daily average was around 3.50 lakh every day, but in March, the daily average has reached around 15 lakh,” Javadekar said.

The country started COVID-19 vaccination programme on 16 January with healthcare workers and frontline workers being vaccinated first. From March 1 in the second phase of inoculation it was opened for people over 60 years of age and for citizens aged 45 and above with co-morbid conditions.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi received the first dose of Bharat BioTech’s Covaxin in Delhi at the All India Institute Of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on March 1.

The common people in India can register and book an appointment for COVID-19 vaccination, using the Co-WIN 2.0 portal or through other IT applications such as Aarogya Setu.  Apart from online registration, there will be on-site registration facilities for eligible beneficiaries as well. Vaccinations provided to eligible people at the government health facilities will be entirely free. The private facilities which have been earmarked as vaccination centres cannot charge the a sum above Rs 250 per person per jab.

Pune-based Serum Institute of India’s Covishield Vaccine and Hyderabad's Bharat Biotech International Ltd’s Covaxin are being used in these mass vaccination drives.

Earlier there were concerns about blood clots from Covishield vaccine. However, data from the phase three clinical trials and real-world rollouts suggest blood clots and other “thromboembolic” events occur no more frequently in people vaccinated with the AstraZeneca shot than they do in the general population. Thromboembolic events include blood clots, pulmonary embolisms and deep vein thrombosis.