COVID-19 vaccine drive for 60+ begins on March 1   

Union Minister Prakash Javadekar on Wednesday announced that the second phase of coronavirus vaccination will begin from March 1, that is next week. In this phase, people with an age over 60 years and those above the age of 45 years with comorbidities will be given the COVID-19 vaccine free-of-cost at 10,000 government hospitals.

Addressing the media, Union I&B Minister Prakash Javadekar said the vaccine would be offered free at government facilities and for a charge at enlisted private hospitals.

"The second phase of the world's largest vaccination drive will start from Monday in which anybody above 60 years, that may not be less than 10 crore people in the country, and 45 years plus with co-morbidities will be given vaccines in 10,000 government medical facilities and also over 20,000 private hospitals," he said.

"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 Union Health Ministry within three-four days as they are in discussion with vaccine manufacturers and hospitals," Prakash Javadekar said.

Meanwhile, India reported 16,738 new Covid-19 cases and 138 deaths due to the infection in the last 24 hours, The Union Health ministry said on Thursday. The total coronavirus positive cases in the country has mounted to 1,10,46,914, while the active cases crossed 1.50 lakh mark at 1,51,708, the official data revealed.

As new coronavirus cases crossed the 13,000-mark for the third time in six days on Wednesday, the Centre rushed multi-disciplinary teams to nine states and the union territory -- Maharashtra, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal -- to support them in effective tackling of the Covid-19 pandemic.