People Over The Age Of 45 Eligible For COVID-19 Vaccines From April 1

The Union Government has announced that from April 1, 2021 anyone over the age of 45 will be eligible for COVID-19 vaccination regardless of whether they have any co-morbidities.

The decision was announced by Union Minister Prakash Javdekar following a cabinet meeting presided by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Javdekar also said that the gap between the first and second dose of the Covishield vaccine can be taken up to eight weeks rather than the current gap of four weeks. However, it will be up to the doctors to decide when to give the second dose to the individual.

Covishield, the vaccine developed by Oxford AstraZeneca and manufactured by Serum Institute of India, and Covaxin, the indigenous vaccine developed by Bharat Biotech, are the two vaccines currently approved in India.

Currently, healthcare and frontline workers, senior citizens above 60 years, and those above the age of 45 who have existing co-morbidities are eligible for the COVID-19 vaccines.

4,84,94,594 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in India as of March 23, 2021.